A Change of Heart
by Reiven
Summary: [Revamp 7 of 14] At the age of seven, Trunks was kidnapped by a man out for revenge against Vegeta. For years everyone assumed he was dead, but what will happen when he returns ten years later with a vengeance?
1. The Beginning

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Dragonball Z or anything affiliated with it, and will be known from now on as; As Usual.

A note to the lovely, lovely people who have read and reviewed this story; yes, I am still alive and kicking, I've just lost much interest in the Dragonball Z universe. But I WILL finish this story like I promised over and over again, even if it's the last thing I do. As you may have (or will) notice, this story has gone through MUCH fixing in terms of grammar, characterizing and descriptions. The Mary-Sue-ness of the OC is –hopefully- gone.

Pairings in the story has also changed dramatically, for it will no longer be Canon/OC pairings. There will be mild Shoujo-ai and Yaoi connotations between the characters, mainly Trunks and Goten. What can I say; years parting will really change one person Yaoi Fangirling-ness :D

**Summary**: At the age of seven, Trunks was kidnapped by a man out for revenge against Vegeta. For years everyone assumed he was dead, but what will happen when he returns ten years later with a vengeance?

**Timeline**: Set six years after the end of the Cell Games. The Buu saga never happened and Goku lives! He lives!

**Ages**:

Trunks - 7  
Goten - 6  
Gohan - 15

**A Change of Heart.  
Chapter One: The Normal Beginning.**

* * *

It was a quiet and peaceful day in the 439-mountain area; the sun was shining brightly, the birds singing a melodious tune among the flowers' blooming. It seemed as nothing could spoil such a beautiful day … or so we thought …

**"Goten! Trunks! Come back here you little brats!"**

The booming voice of a very enraged Son Gohan could be heard throughout the mountain.

The smashing of plates and kitchenware interrupted the calmness of the mountainside.

The camera pans to a small capsule house that stood innocently beside a slow moving stream before the door in the front was thrown open with much force as two small figures burst through it. One of the boys in question had messy black hair that stood out in odd places. The other sported limp, bowl cut, lavender hair; both wore a look of fear on their faces. Common people would have thought a herd of hungry tyrannosaurus-rex were chasing them, but it was something much worse, for hot on their tail was an enraged Son Gohan, the infamous son of the one an only Son Goku.

If you looked closer to Son Gohan you would have noticed that instead of wearing his usual sleek and gravity defying jet-black hair atop his head, all we could see was fuzzy hair would have easily been mistaken for the one worn by a certain Hercule Satan, it not for the bluish tinge and the fact that it smelled suspiciously like toilet cleaner.

"We're sorry!" Goten squealed, "We thought it was the kitten and-ouch!" Goten pouted after being smacked upside the head by Trunks.

"Denial is your friend, Goten!" Trunks glared at his best friend and looked back towards Gohan, "We didn't do it, Gohan. Really. We're-eck!" Trunks stopped suddenly after being forcefully lifted into the air by his collar.

"Now you listen to me, you little demon spawns of the devil! Erasa asked me to a movie with her, Videl, and Sharpner. Now _I_ am going into the house to try and fix this mess you've made of my hair and I'm warning both of you," Gohan eyed them intently, "For every comment I get about my hair, the two of you will be forced to train with me one day in the gravity room," Gohan smirked evilly suddenly, "and every time I beat you, the both of you will get breakfast, lunch, and dinner in human sized proportions, if at all. Do I make myself clear?" His tone was so low you could have easily slipped it under a door.

The two boys gulped and nodded frantically.

Gohan dropped them to the ground and turned to leave, mumbling, "Kids and their cats … will be the end of me!"

All of a sudden, Goten's voice broke his concentration.

"Look on the bright side, Onii-chan, now Videl-neesan will like you even more because you look like her daddy," he said innocently and flashed the Son Grin. Behind him, Trunks had a look of utmost terror on his face.

Gohan stopped abruptly. It seemed like slow motion from the moment Gohan turned mechanically to face the two and his aura started to flash gold, to the part where Goten's smile dropped and both he and Trunks blasted off in the direction of the Capsule Corporation, their tail between their legs.

**x-x- Later –x-x**

In the aftermath of _the incident_, which Gohan had decided to refer to it, his day turned out relatively good. Of course, that being after Chichi and Bulma had managed to de-'fro his hair. Much to his delight, Bulma informed him that both Trunks and Goten had been punished to a whole day of training with Vegeta in the Gravity Room.

Chichi was furious with their actions because it might have put a dent in her grandchild-acquiring plans considering that Gohan's hair would probably put off the eligible girls.

Unfortunately for Gohan, luck wasn't completely on his side because the smell of toilet cleaner was still present.

"Bye mom, Bulma. Thanks a lot for the help. I really should get going otherwise Videl and Erasa are going to kill me," Gohan waved down at them as he started levitating into the air.

"Have fun, dear," Chichi waved back at him, "and remember, keep thoughts of my grandchildren in mind."

Gohan sweat-dropped.

"Bye, Gohan."

"Oh, Bulma, I can't wait to hear the pitter-patter of little grandchildren feet around the house," Chichi said, starry eyed.

"Yes, me too. My own grandchildren probably won't be coming for a while. You are going to have the wedding and the baby shower at the CC, right?" Bulma raised an expectant eyebrow.

"Of course, where else would we chose; that old perverts' island? I think not," Chichi had her hands on her hips at the mention of the old turtle master, "I can just imagine it now. The white flowers littering the yard, the band playing the wedding tune as Videl walks down the isle in her white dress. Gohan looking suave in his black tuxedo, of course, that husband of your is going to have to wear one too …" her voice trailed of as she continued to voice her fantasies to an amused Bulma.

Elsewhere, Gohan was sneezing like mad as he mad his way to the cinema.

**x-x- The Cinema –x-x**

Gohan landed in an alley a block away from the cinema and continued on foot. When he reached his destination the queue line outside was already long.

'_I hope Erasa already bought the tickets. I wonder where they are?'_ Gohan thought as his eyes scanned around.

"Gohan!"

Gohan turned around to meet the smiling face of Erasa and an annoyed from both Videl and Sharpner.

"You're late, Gohan," Stated a disgruntled Videl.

"And why do you smell like a public toilet? A little after school part-time job, shrimp?" Sharpner snickered.

"Sorry," Gohan smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head guiltily, "It's a long story …"

"We have time," Videl stared at him with half-moon-eyes.

"Of course," Gohan laughed nervously, "Well, you see … Trunks came over this morning to spa-ar-play with Goten. It all started innocently enough, that was until I accidentally fell asleep on the couch … needless to say, the both of them had some ridiculous plan in their heads that I would need a hair job ala Trunks and Goten. Good thing my mom and Bulma managed to get home in time to help me … err … what?" he looked at the shocked looks on their faces.

"Bulma? … You mean Bulma _Briefs_?" Erasa gaped, "As in _the_ Bulma Briefs, mother of Trunks Briefs; daughter of Dr. Briefs? Bulma Briefs, heiress to the Capsule Corps, which is quite possibly the richest company on the entire _planet_! You mean _that_ Bulma Briefs?"

"And you had her comb your hair?"

"Well … it's not really a big deal, considering she has seen my father naked on more than one occasion," Gohan reasoned, "I think she actually gave him a bath too," he nodded his head. Noticing the silence, he looked up at them. As if just realizing what he had said, his eyes widened and he held his hands up in defense, "No, I didn't mean it in that way, don't jump to conclusions now. They've just been friends for a long time and–"

Whatever was coming out of Gohans' mouth went unheard by the rest who were still trying to grasp the fact that Gohan, country boy and nerd extraordinaire, knew _the_ Bulma Briefs.

**x-x- The Gravity Room –x-x**

A loud explosion resounded through the halls of the Capsule Corps. It seemed to be coming from the direction of the Gravity Room.

As the smoke started to clear up from within the confinements of the room, there were two human shaped dents imbedded into the wall.

"Get up and fight me, you brats!" Vegeta stomped over and pulled both of them up by the front of their shirts.

"Dad, please …" Trunks looked at him pleadingly, "we're pooped."

"And hungry," Goten whined to Vegeta,

Vegeta let go of their shirts and (for the second time that day) Trunks and Goten dropped to the ground like a pair of ripe apples, where they stayed.

"Have it your way, weaklings. But when you see the enemies' Ki blast headed your way, don't expect me to come and save your pitiful little asses," he growled and turned his back to them, "I knew letting you hang around that filthy, third class, sorry excuse for a Saiyan-Jin warrior, Kakkarot would make you weak," Vegeta turned down the gravity and walked out leaving his two victims laying unmoving on the floor.

Instantly the both of them fell into a dreamless and hunger filled slumber.

**x-x- That Night -x-x**

The area surrounding the building of the Capsule Corps was silent, barren of all life. The only sign that the place wasn't completely deserted was the sound of breathing coming from the occupant's rooms. One in particular, seemed much more restless, his breathing ragged as his body was being haunted by an unpleasant feeling.

Trunks suddenly bolted up straight on bed, panting hard, '_What the hell is that feeling? It's … so … dirty_,' he shuddered and looked around his room, searching for the source of the power.

'_Maybe it's just a dream … otherwise dad would've been here by now_,' Trunks calmed himself.

"_Trunks_ …"

Trunks eyes became when he heard the menacing voice.

"Who-who's there?" Trunks pushed the blankets off of him and stood up.

A shadow stirred in the corner of the room, making Trunks' shoulder tense as he got into a fighting stance. It moved closer, and closer towards him until the light of the moon shining through the window illuminated his face.

Trunks froze. He had never felt such a creature before in his life. It's was face ashen white, as if it had never been exposed to the sunlight. In truth, the creature (who seemed to be a male) didn't seem all that extraordinary other than his pale complexion; Trunks would have even gone as far as to say he was good looking. But that fact seemed unimportant once you've felt and seen the darkness of his aura. It shone with fire, evilness and malice, only further enhancing the impression that his entire soul was made entirely by brimstone and hate. His eyes, the most noticeable part of him, were blood red.

Blood. Blood that runs through the veins of Trunks; the same blood that seemed to be running cold as he found himself under the intense gaze of the being.

"Wh-who are you?" Trunks glared at him through all the fear that clouded his vision.

"Who am I?" he snickered, "The better question is, who are you?"

Trunks gulped, trying to swallow the lump in his throat, "I am Trunks, son of Vegeta and Prince of all Saiyans," he turned his nose up.

"Oh, really?" The creature answered in mock surprise, "Forgive me them, your majesty, for my rudeness in the presence of an esteemed figure such as yourself," he bowed his head slightly, a smirk on his face at the look of rage on Trunks' face, "Let me introduce myself, I am Tenkou … your highness, and my presence he is to save you from the fate that you are doomed to endure."

"What are you talking about?" Trunks glared at him, but unconsciously taking a step back as he man moved closer towards him.

"The fate of growing up with that good-for-nothing Prince-oh, I guess he's been promoted to King of Saiyans, now hasn't he, dear Vegeta," tilted his head to the side, "Why are you running away from me, Trunks? Don't you see? I mean you no harm."

Before Trunks could blink, much less react, the man fazed out of sight and reappeared behind him. He delivered a blow to the back of his neck causing Trunks to fall forward, unconscious, before flinging him over his shoulder. He purposely raised his Ki as his flew out the window and into the yard to catch the attention of the Z warriors. Within second, the entire members of the Earth's forces were lined up in front of him, ready for action.

"What do you think you're doing with my brat? Let him go, immediately." Vegeta roared and glared daggers at the enemy.

"Of course, King Vegeta, your wish is my command," he was in the process of dropping Trunks onto the floor but stopped in the midst of his action, "You know what? I won't, because young Trunks here is indeed special. I'm sure with a bit more training and discipline, he would undisputedly be an asset to me."

"Trunks!"

They all turned to see Bulma running up to them.

"Please … let my son go. Take me instead," she begged, tears beginning to pour down her face.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, little missy. Your husband here owes me," he then turned to Vegeta, "I will make you pay for your father and your race have done to me."

Before anyone could react, he shot a Ki ball towards them, making the earth explode from beneath them. By the time the smoke cleared, the creature, along with Trunks, was long gone.

The only thing Bulma could do was stare at the place when Trunks once was. Realizing that he was gone, and that she might never get to see him again. She and Vegeta had lost their only son … her parents lost a grandson and Goten lost a best friend.

The Z warriors all took off in different directions in looking for any sign of them, but there was none.

"Trunks …" Bulma mumbled softly, not noticing that Krillin's wife, Juuhachigou, stood comforting her, "… Trunks … No … No Trunks!" She screamed out his name. The anguish in her voice reaching the voice of Vegeta, making him cringe in guilt and helplessness. "**Trunks**!"

After that night, Trunks was never discovered.

* * *

**End Chapter One.**

Next chapters will follow soon ... maybe.


	2. Ten Years Later

**Disclaimer**: As Usual™.

**Note**: Entire chapter rewritten, characters portrayed differently and Mary-Sue-ism –hopefully- a distant memory.

**A Change of Heart.  
****Chapter Two: Ten Years Later.**

* * *

_Ten years_.

Ten long years had passed since the day Goten and Trunks had washed Gohan's hair with toilet cleaner. Ten years since Gohan had his first almost date with Videl at the cinema. Ten years ago, Trunks had been taken from his home; from his family; from his friends.

Today, ten years later, is the day that marks the anniversary of his disappearance and of what the Z warriors had come to believe as the day of his death. Almost all of them had given up hope of ever finding him … that is … with the exception of Bulma and Goten.

Bulma never gave up hope that one day he would be found, and they will finally be a family again. Everyone tried to convince her that it was futile and that she would just only get her hopes up just to have them crushed, but their pleads went unnoticed. Even after ten years, there was still a little corner in her broken heart that believed she would get to see the man her son had grown up to become.

Vegeta … needless to say, Vegeta changed in the ten years. He had grown closer to Bulma and has become less obsessed with competing for the title of strongest against Kakkarot. He has finally understood that one person really doesn't know what he has until it comes the time for him to lose it.

Goten was never told the truth of what happened to Trunks. They only told him that Trunks was gone and he probably was never coming back. Dragon Lord, Shenron, was unable to trace his Ki anywhere in the galaxy, nor Enma-sama in the Underworld. After that incident, Goten changed as well, but not for the better. He distanced himself from the rest, blocking out their words of comfort and pity and just stayed in his room most of the time, reminiscing about his past and all the fond memories he shared with Trunks. He now goes to Gohan's old high school, Orange Star.

On a lighter mode, Gohan and Videl finally decided to get married after dating for almost nine years. They now have a daughter, Pan, whose best friends with Vegeta and Bulma's second child, Bra.

In commemoration of the memory of Trunks, they built him a memorial on one of the mountains near Goku's home. Today was the day they went to pay their respects, like they do every year since that fateful day.

_**Trunks Briefs.**_

_**Beloved Son, Friend and Comrade.**_

**_You will be missed._**

**x-x- Orange Star High -x-x**

Gohan sat hunched over his desk, not caring about the noise being made by the rest of his classmates. The only thing he cared about that he was bored, and he was hungry, and both combination did not make one happy Goten. On his right sat two of the three people he associated with, but thought to be extremely annoying. Possibly the only reason he actually stayed around them was because the girl, Saera, is the daughter of Erasa and Sharpner and it was purely out of obligation. On his right, sat another girl with long, odd coloured silver hair. Goten studied her up and down, taking in the sight of her unusual hair colour and the fact that she had eyes to match. Her attention, however, was not focused on him so he could not dwell on the fact further. His eyes instead, moved lower from her hair to her chest.

'_Like little butter buns_,' he raised an eyebrow, amused, but quickly reverted his eyes when she turned to look at him.

"What?" she looked quizzically at him.

Goten just looked away innocently, "Nothing …"

"Pervert," She said quietly before going back to her magazine, while Goten returned his attention towards her.

Goten thought she was a pretty strange girl, honestly. Sure she is nice and all, but she had just popped up out of nowhere one day and had just stayed. Not that Goten cared, mind you, he'd rather stay around her than with Saera and Marker any day. At least she could hold a decent and interesting conversation that did not involve shopping, baseball or Mr. Terada's buns of steel. Goten sweat-dropped at that last thought.

With the girl, Rin, at least he managed to improve his intellect and his people skills, at a side of discussing one of his most favourite subjects, lunch.

"Good morning, Mr. Terada."

One of the student's said, signaling the presence of the teacher, causing the rest to move back to their seats.

"Good morning, class. Take your seats and please open your text books to page eighty five." Mr. Terada opened his own. All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door and another teacher walked in and handed him a piece of paper before walking out.

"Hmm …" he read what was written on the paper, "Class, I'd like to announce that we have two new students who will be joining our class today."

Murmurs were going around the class about the new students.

"You two may come in now."

"Here comes the dorks," Marker said woefully, earning a glare from Mr. Terada and laughter from the rest of the class.

Suddenly, the door was thrown open, startling the laughter out of the people present. A person walked, followed soon by a second. The first person in, a boy, it seemed, just waltzed over to Mr. Terada with a purpose and stopped right in front of his face.

"Y-yes …" the teacher looked taken aback by his action, "Class, I'd like to introduce Mr. TK-"

"It's just TK," the guy interrupted him in a bored and annoyed tone.

"Ah-ha … very good," he stuttered, "anyway, this is Miss Rei … err … last-name-less," he laughed nervously, trying to lighten up the tension that hung in the air. The class managed a slight snicker, but the two people standing in front of him just glowered. He sweat-dropped.

The boy, TK, who stood slightly taller than the teacher, looked at him from the top of his glasses, baby blue eyes taking in the sight of the middle aged teacher. His midnight black hair swayed as he 'humphed' and turned his head away abruptly, registering the man as not being even slightly threatening. His eyes caught the ones of his comrade, the girl, Rei. She nudged her head in the direction of the seats; he followed her gaze and his eyes landed on the form of Goten. He studied the oblivious boy for a moment, before he exchanged glances with the girl again and smirked.

"Why don't you tell us a little about yourselves?"

Their concentration was broken by the voice of the teacher who looked at them happily.

"Tell?" TK raised an eyebrow before the corner of his mouth curled into a smirk, "Nothing to tell. Even if there was, it would be none of your business."

"… Yes …" The teacher just nodded his head, not daring to dwell any longer, "You may take your seat now."

"I would, if I knew where it was."

The entire class broke into laughter at the mistake of Mr. Terada.

He nodded his head, face beat red, "You can sit behind young Mr. Son. Goten, please raise your hand."

"Thank you, sir," TK winked at him as he made his way towards his seat, '_Thank you indeed_.'

'_Strange boy_,' Mr. Terada sweat-dropped, before turning his attention to the black haired girl, one who seemed to be sitting nonchalantly on the edge of his table, flipping though his books. "Rei …"

"What he said," she pointed to the receding form of TK and jumped off the table. "There isn't a problem with that, is there, Mis-ster Terada?"

"No … no, of course not," he coughed, "You can take your seat now."

"Thank you then, Mister Terada," she hissed his name slowly, before following TK.

'_Even stranger girl …_'

As TK passed Goten, he shot him a withering look, "Good to meet you, Goten-san," he winked at him and smirked, before walking away before the other boy could respond.

"Do you know him?" Rin leaned closer and whispered into his ear.

Goten just shrugged his shoulder, "No …" he said, '_I think_ …' he added as a mental thought. As he walked away, Goten noticed that he reminded him of someone, but at that moment, his stomach started rumbling and the thought became a distant memory.

**x-x- Lunch –x-x**

The student of Orange Star High sat around their lunch table, chatting happily with each other, until a blood curdling scream reached their ears, making them drop their fork in shock and looking around for the scene of the murder.

"What's wrong, Goten?"

At the mention of the name, they sweat-dropped and went back to their food.

"I-I-I … I f-forgot my lunch …" his lower lip trembled as his eyes started to water. He looked at Rin with big eyes that just screamed of anxiety.

"…" A large sweat-drop appeared on her forehead as she studied the pitiful form of Goten, "I actually packed extra lunch, so you can share with me if you want."

"Really?" Goten sniffled and wiped his nose with the back of his hand.

"Sure … I mean … we wouldn't want you to starve, right?" she patted him on the head, a wide grin on her face.

"You're a life saver, Rin," Goten looked up at her with stars in his eyes, "Well, what are we waiting for? There's only half an hour left of lunch time, so let's get eating!" he grabbed Rin by the waist and ran as fast as he could towards the exit.

He didn't notice a pair of baby blue eyes studying his move as he rushed to fill his empty, Saiyan-Jin stomach.

"Soon, Son Goten … very soon," he muttered, before returning to the Playboy magazine he was currently reading. His companion saw the magazine and whacked him upside the head, "What?" he asked, faking innocence.

**x-x- Outside –x-x**

"This looks like a good spot," Goten stopped in a secluded spot in the schoolyard. There was a tall tree on the side that provided a much cozy shade. He put Rin back on her feet.

"You're right," she nodded and pulled out a small capsule case. She took one of them, pressed the top button and threw it to the ground. There was a loud poof sound and when the smoke cleared, on the ground was a fully equipped picnic set, equipped with food basket and checked mat.

"Although it's been around for ages, the Capsule still doesn't seem to stop amazing me."

"Isn't it?" she squealed, "I tell you, I've been around, and I mean around, but I have never found anything quite as amazing as the Capsule Corps Capsules!"

"What exactly do you mean by around?" Goten raised an eyebrow at her.

"Hn?" she looked questioningly at him, "What do you mean I mean?"

"Didn't you just say … you've been around?"

"Err …" she gave him an odd glance and turned to look at the mat, "Hey!" she said suddenly, "let's eat!"

"Hmm …" Goten raised an eyebrow, and intended to question her further on her sudden memory loss, but when she pulled out a gigantic turkey sub from the basket, he too suffered from temporary memory loss. His attention focused on the food at hand.

About ten minutes later, and ten round through the food, Goten looked up from his plate of spaghetti bolognaise and drooled when he saw Rin pulling out a two layered chocolate covered and frosted cake.

"Cake?" Goten stared at it, stars in his eyes and his hand was unconsciously pulled forward to touch it.

"Hm?" Rin noticed his moving hand and pulled the cake away, "No, no, Goten-kun. Cake is for after lunch. We still have the Chinese wonton noodles and the Teriyaki."

"You mean … there's more!"

"Why? We are growing people, you know. And we growing people need our vitamins, or else we'd be previously growing, presently stumpy people."

"… Kami! You just gave me the perfect phrase to say to my mom when she insists that I've been eating too much. Thanks!" he twirled the fork in his place of noodles and too a big bite out of it, "Iff foo feffer neef fa fafer, don'f fe affaif fo afk, fe?" he mumbled through a mouth full of wonton and tofu.

"Eh?" She sweat-dropped, "You said something about a Feffermobile?"

Goten gulped down his food and repeated, "If you ever need a favour, don't be afraid to ask, ne?"

Rin raised an eyebrow and seemed to be in thought for a moment; "Now that you mention it …" she leaned over closer to him, until their noses almost touched. Looking straight into his eyes, her right hand made it's way up to his head. She ran her finger through his hair lovingly, "Goten … I want you …" she whispered into his ear.

Goten started to laugh nervously. "Rin … you don't mean? I-I … I-"

"… to tell me what kind of shampoo you use! Your hair is so soft!" She said longingly.

Goten would have fallen over if Rin wasn't keeping a tight hold of his head and hair.

"I just use Pantene Pro Vitamin, but after a couple of use it makes my scalp flaky," she nodded her head dejectedly.

"Err … I don't know. It's normally covered in mud and earth, so I just wash it off in the stream by my house."

"Really? Natural hair cleanser … I like it!" she laughed and patted him on the shoulder, "I always knew you were smart, Goten-kun."

"Thanks," Goten smiled at her, "No one's ever told me I was smart before, well … sure, my mom has, but she's always saying stuff like that, now that she can't bug Gohan to get married anymore."

"Being smart is overrated anyway," she shrugged, "I mean, what would be the point of knowing the square root of pie when your dream is to become a butcher?"

Goten laughed at that comment, "That is so true! You have just given me yet another comeback!"

"Glad I could help you," she joined him in laughter.

Soon the bell rang, signaling the end on lunch and all the students returned back to their classes, which passed without event. The final bell rang; queue for the students to return home, including a certain Demi-Saiyan-Jin.

**x-x- 439 Mountain Area -x-x**

"I'm home," Goten said aloud as he entered the house. "Welcome home, honey. How was school?" she asked him as she walked out of the kitchen, her hands busy wiping a plate.

"It's was pretty normal," he grinned, "if you don't count the fact that two relatively weird people just transferred to my class today, and I just discovered that among all the other lame and dumb people I'm forced to associate with, one of them if pretty fun and smart. And she cooks good too," he added the last part excitedly.

"She?" Chichi raised an eyebrow, the object of conversation catching her attention immediately, "Does my baby boy already have a girlfriend?"

Goten choked on the apple he was eating. In an action to dislodge the piece of fruit from his throat, he continuously beat his fist against his chest, until the darned piece finally came out. He panted hard and looked up to the happy face of his mothers'.

"Do you? That's so great, it took Gohan a year until he finally worked up the nerve to ask Videl out, and this was after the Cell Games!" Chichi let the plate fall to the ground where it shattered into a hundred pieces, as she threw her hands around Goten and hugged him tightly, "I'm so proud of you!"

"M-Mom … choke … air … breathing," Goten gasped, "dying …"

Chichi immediately let her son go and watched him grab is throat protectively as he gasped for breath the second time, "Honestly, Goten. Being a Saiyan-Jin warrior, I would have thought you'd be stronger than that."

"You don't know your own strength then, mom."

"But getting back to the more important issue here," she brushed him off, "This girl, who is she, what does she look like, is she nice? You tell me that she's a good cook. That's good. Say, why don't you invite her to the gathering this Saturday?" she nodded, "Yes, that sounds like a great idea. You can inform her that she's invited and I expect you to introduce us then, you hear?" she said happily as she walked back into the kitchen.

"…" Goten looked at her strangely, "Don't I get a say in this?" he said to the air, "Apparently not …"

"… Grandchildren!"

Goten sweat-dropped.

* * *

**End Chapter Two.**

Ha-ha nn;; Fixed the mistake. Thanks to Ms. Trunks Briefs for pointing that out.


	3. Preparations and an Evil Plot

**Disclaimer**: As Usual™

**Note**: Probably OOC-ness.

**Ages:**

Gohan and Videl – 25.  
Goten – 16.  
Pan and Bra – 4.

**A Change of Heart.  
****Chapter Three: Preparations and an Evil Plot.**

* * *

**x-x- School -x–x**

Goten flew to school that morning, like he did any other mornings, but this time one thing was different about him. This time, he actually had something on his mind that didn't consist of what was going to be served for lunch. More importantly, he was trying to figure out the best way to ask Rin to the reunion on Saturday so that she didn't think he was a completely obvious stalker with a weird family, he did have a weird family, but Goten would be damned if he were ever labeled a stalker.

He sighed dejectedly as he landed on the roof of the school and slowly made his was down the stairs and towards his locker, incidentally, having him pass Rin's locker on his way. And much to Goten's chagrin, he noticed Rin was standing at her locker, gathering her books. He took a deep breath and decided that there was no time like the present, "Morning, Rin," he said as he casually strolled up to her.

"Oh, morning, Goten," she gave him a toothy smile.

"Yeah …" Goten nodded and seemed to be pondering his words, "Rin …" he looked at her, "Umm … I wanted to ask you, I mean, would you like to … Err … My mom wanted me to tell you that …" he dropped his head.

"Are you breaking up with me, Goten?"

He turned his head up when he heard her sad tone, "What? N-No-How can I break up with you if we're not, not implying that we couldn't given the chance, I mean-"

"Calm down, Goten. I was just kidding," she sweat-dropped and patted him on the shoulder, "C'mon, it can't be all that bad."

Goten blushed crimson; "My mom is inviting you to join us at the yearly reunion this Saturday."

"Aah, and from the way you reacted, I thought you were going to tell me that you're an alien from another planet or something."

"Ahaha … haha …" he stuttered, "N-no, no alien's here. This zone is completely alien free. Yup, no aliens."

"O-kay … Well, won't I be intruding on your family reunion then?"

"No, it's more of a habit thing; friends and people from the past. We have it once a year to keep the old gang together."

"That's so cute."

"Probably not as cute as you imagine," The image of a bloodied nosed Muten Roshi lingered in his mind, "Not at all … So, I'll pick you up at your place at twelve? The party starts at about one."

"Sounds good."

"I guess I'll see you then," he waved goodbye to her and ran off.

"…"

A few moments later, he returned, and sheepish look on his face as he mumbled out, "By the way, where is your place?"

**x-x- Saturday Morning –x-x**

"Goten-Ojisan! It's Saturday!" the innocent voice of the less innocent Pan rang around the little capsule house, "Ojisan! You told me to wake you up, so … _Wake Up_!" she climbed onto the bed and started to do flips and cartwheels on Goten's stomach.

"I'm up! I'm up!" he said pleadingly as he got out of bed, somewhat groggily.

"Hurry up, Obaasan said that if you don't get out of bed now, you won't get any breakfast."

"What!" Goten leaped to his feet, threw on his clothes and ran out the door in the direction of the kitchen. He zoomed past Videl and before you knew it seated steadfast at the table, awaiting his food for the morning.

"Good morning, dear," Chichi started piling the food on the table.

"Morning, son," Goku sat on Goten's left, arms equipped with fork and knife like a soldier prepared for war, food war that is.

"Good morning," Goten laughed when Chichi slapped Goku's hand away with a spatula just as he was about to stick it in a bowl of scrambled eggs.

"Goku," Chichi said sternly, "How many times do I have to tell you not to stick your hands where it doesn't belong," she waved the spatula threateningly in his face, "Besides, we have to wait for Gohan. He and Videl are coming over for breakfast."

"Oh," Goten said in realization, "That was the person in the living room earlier."

"They're here?" Chichi raised an eyebrow, "Anyway; as I was saying. It's not easy to cook for three fully grown Saiyan-Jin's, one teenage Saiyan-Jin with raging hormones and two little Saiyan-Jin, a Namek-Jin–"

"Morning, family," Gohan said cheerily as he walked into the kitchen where his family dwelled.

"Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Son, Goten," Videl raised a hand.

"Hello, Gohan, Videl," The three of then said simultaneously.

"Mom, dad!" Pan bounced into the room and onto Gohan's arms.

"Squirt!" Gohan picked her up, "Did you have a good night at grandma's house? Did Goten do anything embarrassing that we should know about?" he smirked, "Sleep farting, snoring, erotic dreams involving-"

"Gohan!" Goten stood up abruptly.

"Boys!" Chichi slammed the spatula on the table; catching the attention of everyone present, "Stop fighting and start eating."

That was something you didn't need to tell the Saiyan-Jin twice. Within seconds, erotic dreams aside, all of them were gathered around the food, set to dig into the delicious food.

"By the way, mom, I don't think Master Picollo actually eats, you know."

**x-x- Later –x-x**

"Mom, what time is it?" Goten paced around the hallways, almost burning a hole into the carpet.

"It's been five minutes since the last time you ask me, Goten," Chichi's muffled voice floated out of the kitchen.

"Why so impatient, Bro?" Goten looked up from the book he was reading.

"Nothing really important. Just hoping to get this day started soon so that it'll end sooner," Goten said with half-moon eyes as the image of a bloody-nosed Muten Roshi once again penetrated his mind, _'I have a bad feeling about today …_'

"Nonsense!" Chichi walked out, beaming, "Goten just invited his future wife to the gathering. He promised to pick her up at twelve."

"Mom!" Goten said, scandalized.

"Goten?" Gohan's eyebrows shot to his hairline.

"Chichi," Goku interjected, "when did you meet Mirai Trunks? I thought Goten didn't exist in his future."

Chichi whacked Goku upside the head with the back of her hand.

"Goten's got a girlfriend?" Videl nodded her head, "I guess denial isn't just a river in Egypt. It flow right here in the Son's house too."

"I do not!" Goten gritted his teeth, "Rin is just a friend who happens to be a girl … nothing more," he grinned evilly and looked over at Videl, "and at least she isn't about to accidentally poison me with bowl of boiled water."

Videl glared at him.

"Maa, you two," Gohan waved the both of them down, "anyway, so … Goten, you play-meister, when were you going to tell us about this? Or were you just going to keep it quite and elope in Vegas?"

"Shut up, Gohan," Goten shot him a glare.

"So, how are you going to pick her up in? You can't just fly over there or take the nimbus, you know?"

"Err … I didn't … think about that actually …" he sweat-dropped.

"Why don't you borrow a Capsule Car from Bulma-san?" Pan chipped in.

"Good idea, squirt," he ruffled her hair.

"Hey, don't call me squirt!" she stuck her tongue out at him, "Bra's daddy always calls me that too sometimes and something more," she pouted and trailed off thoughtfully.

"A … third-class, third generation Saiyan-Jin offspring of the spawn?" Goten added inquiringly.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Vegeta always has been quite gifted in the name department," Goku laughed.

**x-x- Even Later –x-x**

Goten opened the driver's side door of the Capsule Car and got out. He looked at the piece of paper in his hand, something was scribbled hurriedly onto it. Making sure that he was at the right house, he walked up to the front door and knocked on it three times.

Silence.

He knocked a few times more, but again, no on answered him. "Rin?" he called out, peeking in through the window.

The room was completely barren of life, save for the white cat that lay curled up in the middle of the carpet.

Goten was about to call out once more when he heard a rustle in the bushes and turned around only to notice Rin's silver-head poking out through the leaves. She turned her eyes up, noticing the baffled look on Goten's face, she snickered nervously, "Hi, Goten … you're probably wondering what I'm doing in the bushes, ne?"

"Just a bit …" Goten looked amused.

"Would you believe me if I told you that my cat locked me out?"

"Stranger things have happened in the past."

"Aha … then … my cat locked me out of the house," she sweat-dropped and made her was out of the green bush beside her house, "is the front door locked, by the way?" she looked on as Goten gently turned the know, finding it stuck half way, nodding, she just sighed.

"How did it happen anyway?"

"It's a long story … I'll tell you on the way. It's already half past twelve."

Goten looked somewhat shocked and looked at his watch, "I didn't even notice. Perhaps we should get going," he was just about to lead her to the car when a light-bulb went off in his head and he stopped her half way, but before that, there's a few things I have to debrief you on."

"This sounds serious. Go ahead."

"There are just a few people I need to warn you about; listen carefully, because this might just be the deciding point of your life and your sanity," Goten warned her in all seriousness.

"Aha …"

"First off, there is Master Picollo … he used to be Gohan's master in the past. He's … err … well … he's pretty different. I'd tell you just how different, but you'd have to see it to believe it. My advice is, expect the unexpected."

Rin nodded.

"Second, there's Vegeta, Bulma's husband and big-head extraordinaire. All I have to say is that he's very, very dangerous. Better stay away from him," Goten knew that Vegeta had changed much in the past, ever since the Cell incident, but it always paid to be careful when there was a human involved.

"Okay."

"Then there's Muten Roshi, my fathers' and Krillin's old master. When I say old, I mean _old_. I think he's probably about one hundred years old by now, but still one of the biggest pervert the world has ever seen. And I said stay away from Vegeta, right? Now I'm telling you, keep your distance from him at all cost!"

Rin sweat-dropped.

"Lastly, the most important person you have to watch out for," Goten's eye twitched, "my mom."

"Mom?"

Goten nodded his head sullenly, "She's might randomly try to pair us up together, but just ignore her. She seems to have an intense obsession with marriages and grandchildren," a pink tinge appeared on his cheeks.

"If you say so, Goten-kun …"

"Okay than, since the most important issues are covered, we'd better get going. My mom will throw a hissy-fit if we're late … she might even break out the …" he gulped, "the frying pan."

As the entered the car, prepared to take off, Rin's voice floated through the air, "And when you said Bulma … do you mean … _the_ Bulma?"

**x-x- Capsule Corps –x-x**

"He's late!" Chichi said irritably.

"Calm down, Chichi," Goku tried to cool off his wife, "he probably ran into some traffic."

"Traffic? Goku, he's in a _flying_ car!"

Goku held his hand up in defense, "Hey, hey, he's the one who's late. No need to get mad with me."

"Sorry, Goku," Chichi sighed, "I'm just a little on the edge these past few days."

"It must be that time of month," Gohan whispered to Videl.

"The woman's monthly problem should be kept to themselves," Vegeta's gruff voice interjected, "and quiet down, woman, your annoying voice is giving me a headache."

"Oh shut up, Veggie," Bulma glared at him, "you incessant whining has done all but killed me."

"A Saiyan-Jin Prince does not whine, and do not call me that, Woman."

"Stop calling me woman, Vegeta. I do have a name!" Bulma snorted, "I'll make you a deal; you call me by my name and I won't call you Veggie anymore."

Vegeta humphed, "Have it you way, wom-"

"What was that, Veggie-chan?"

"Fine, Bulma," Vegeta spat out the last part.

Bulma smiled triumphantly and turned to Videl, "That's how you keep a man under control, dear. You let them know who's the boss," she smirked at the glowering Vegeta.

"Mommy!" Pan and Bra ran up towards them excitedly.

"Mommy-"

"-Goten's-"

"-headed-"

"-this way-"

"-with his wife-"

"-and they're-"

"Walking!" the said simultaneously.

"Walking? I thought they took the Capsule Car."

"They did," Bulma looked at Chichi and both of them took off running in the direction of the entrance, reaching in time when Goten and Rin walked through. She held a fuzzy ball of fur in her arms.

"What happened?"

"Err …" Goten stuttered and scratched the back of his head with his hand, "Funny story actually …" he started, "we were driving down the road, then all of a sudden this little," he held up the black puppy in hand, "puppy fall out from nowhere. Nearly scared the stuffing out of me."

"What happened to the car?"

"It's kind of …" Rin spoke up, "In the pond," she snickered at the memory of Goten's face when the puppy fell on him before latching onto his face with it's paws.

"Are you kids alright?"

"Fine," Rin said.

"Do you even have to ask that, Bulma?" Goten looked at her with half-moon-eyes, "Oh yes, mom, Bulma … this is Rin. The friend," he made sure to put extra emphasis on the last word, "Rin."

"Hello," she raised her hand up in greeting.

"Aii!" Chichi grasped both her hands tightly together, "so cute, and I love your hair."

"Mom, please; anyway, Rin, this is my mom," he coughed purposely, "Chichi and Bulma, I'm sure you know her well," he pointed to the other figures standing at the side, "that's Vegeta (he coughed again), my dad, Goku, my brother, Gohan and his wife Videl. And these little devils are Pan and Bra. Pan is my niece and Bra is Bulma's."

"A pleasure to meet you all."

"And we all feel the same."

"Why don't we save the introduction's for in the plane? The kids always get hungry when we're in a plane for too long."

"Goku, you're the one who always get hungry when we're on any vehicle for too long," Chichi put her hands to her hips.

"Good point," at that moment, Goku's stomach started to growl, causing the others to face fault, "then we'd better go. I'm feeling hungry already."

"Idiot," Vegeta glared at him.

"Now everyone on board," Bulma clapped her hands.

Chichi grabbed Rin and Goten's arms and led then into the plane while Gohan and the others followed behind. The last people who boarded were Goku and Vegeta, when Vegeta stopped him in his tracks.

"Kakkarot," Vegeta looked him down, "keep an eye out today. I have a feeling that something is going to happen."

"Sure," Goku nodded, noting the serious tone is Vegeta's voice. When Vegeta didn't continue, he followed the rest into the plane.

Vegeta lingered back, keeping an eye on Rin, 'Something about that girl seems oddly familiar …' any further thoughts were interrupted by Bulma's billowing voice.

"Vegeta! Get you royal butt in this plane otherwise I'm going to leave you here!"

"Don't get your panties into a twist, I'm coming," he scowled, "loud mouth woman."

"What did you say, Veggie-chan!"

Vegeta grumbled all the way into the plane.

**x-x- Kame's Island –x-x  
**

Their landing wasn't one of the most memorable one considering that Vegeta got into an argument with Goku … actually Vegeta was the one arguing over something that sounded like _'how dare you call the mighty prince of-umph',_ which was cut short by Goten clasping his hand over Vegeta's mouth to prevent him from saying the S word.

That bright idea by Goten resulted in a Goten shaped dent in the back of the plane. The incident, incidentally, made Chichi extremely mad. Unfortunately for Goku and Vegeta, that day was the day they had both their names written into the frying pan of doom. Bulma got involved eventually, however, the fact that she was the pilot of the plane did not help the matter at all. In the end they all found themselves face to face with Muten Roshi's bare naked behind when the place nose-dived straight through his throne room.

Gasping, all of them walked out of the wreck formerly known as the plane, each one silently thanking Dende that they made it through the ordeal … with the exception of Vegeta.

"Are you sure you're okay, Goten?" Rin studied his from head to toe, "that was one nasty hit you took."

"Fine, fine, don't worry about it," he assure her, "I've been through worse, much worse."

"If you say so," she shrugged her shoulders.

**x-x- Elsewhere –x-x**

"Look at those fools," the faceless voice rang around the, what looked like a control room of a ship, "They should make the most of their little get-together, considering that it might be their last," his tone was low and menacing. He turned his seat around, focusing his attention one two other figures that stood in the room with him, "You should get ready," he smirked, "there will be some unexpected occurrences at the gathering today," he directed that order to one of the two, motioning for the being take the leave.

"As you wish, Master," he bowed and looked once again at the monitor through his black tinted lenses before walking out.

"The end is near … Vegeta," he laughed.

* * *

****

****

**End Chapter Three.**


	4. A New Enemy Appears

**Disclaimer**: As Usual™.

**Changes**: Grammar (the awful, horrendous grammar) and a lot of scenes were rewritten.

Android Eighteen is known as Juuhachigou or for short, Juu.

**A Change of Heart.  
****Chapter Four: A New Enemy Appears.**

* * *

"Hi guys," Krillin walked up to then, "glad you made it in time, we're getting hungry."

"Krillin," Chichi said suddenly, "I think you've been spending too much time around Goku, you're starting to sound like him," Chichi commented, much to the amusement of the others.

"Goku," Krillin patted him on the back, "long time no see. What have you been doing lately that keeps you from visiting."

"Nothing really …" Goku said, thoughtfully, "just training and eating," he grinned.

"That's right, _just_ training and eating," she put her hands on her hips, "I told him to go out and get a job, but do you know what he did? He did go out, and then came back with some stranger named Bob. I swear, he wouldn't know common sense, if it came up and bit him on the nose," Chichi shook her head ruefully.

"I thought you told me to go out and get Bob … and I did. By the way, who's Common Sense and why does he want to bite me on the nose?" Goku had a confused look on his face while everyone fell down anime style.

"Yep; still the same ol' Goku," added Krillin, "it make's you glad doesn't it? To know that some things just don't change."

"You can say that again … what were we talking about?" Yamcha came strolling out of nowhere.

"Yamcha, I didn't know you were coming. I thought you had a baseball game today?" Krillin extended his hand to his other old friend.

"Yamcha, long time no see," Goku and Bulma approached their long time friend.

"Hi, guys," everyone turned to the squeaky voice of Puars'.

"Puar!"

"Good to see the old gang back together, isn't it?" Bulma nodded her head and glanced over to the sulking Vegeta, "would you stop that sulking, Vegeta. Geez, you make it seem like I'm forcing you to kiss Goku or something!"

Vegeta looked complete scandalized at her accusation and opened his mouth to shout back a witty remark before he was interrupted by a loud grumbling sound.

"Oops, sorry!" Goku grinned sheepishly.

Vegeta's eyebrow twitched, '_Why do I always get stuck with these imbeciles?'_

Everyone laughed off Goku's usual antics.

"We'd better get the food ready then," Bulma looked over at Chichi, Videl and Juuhachigou. The two nodded, Juu just glared at her.

"I don't serve, _anyone_," she said coolly and walked off.

While the women set out the food and all the baskets filled with food, Goten went around the island, reluctantly, to introduce his friend to the rest.

"Hi, Krillin, Yamcha."

"Goten!" Krillin said happily.

"How have you been, kiddo. It's been quite a while, hasn't it and, if I so say so myself, you've become quite the stud. I bet all the girls are throwing themselves at your feet," Yamcha wiggled his eyebrow.

Goten sweat-dropped; "No, not really," he laughed nervously, "anyway, this," he motioned to the person standing slightly behind him, "is Rin. She's a friend from school. Mom invited her."

"Why, Goten, you dog you!" Yamcha shoved him out of the way, "taking so long to introduce us," he reached out a grabbed her hand, giving it a peck and flashing one of his trademark, smarmy, Yamcha flirt glance, "Hello, there."

Rin sweat-dropped, "Nice to meet you."

"Rin, Yamcha," Goten cut in, "he plays baseball."

"That's nice …" she leaned in closer to Goten when Yamcha turned to say a word to Krillin, "what's baseball?"

Goten shot a look at disbelief at her, "What's … baseball? You don't know?" when she shook her head, Goten continued, "err … well … baseball is a sport with a ball, a bat and four bases. That's the basic."

"O-kay … nevermind."

"I'll show you sometime," he studied her for a moment, "where are you from anyway? I mean, if you don't know baseball."

"Well …" she trailed off, looking up at nothing in particular, "somewhere in Southeast Asia," she said suddenly, "I don't really go out much, you know. Sports aren't really my thing either."

"Aha …" Goten nodded his head in a somewhat, disbelieving way.

"So … who's that?" Rin pointed towards Juuhachigou in an attempt to change the subject.

"She," Goten glanced over to where she was pointing, "Oh, that's Krillin's wife, Juuhachigou. We just call her Juu for short."

"Juuhachi … gou?" she raised an eyebrow, "you call her 'eighteen'?"

"Err … well … you see … umm, Juu us kind of … half android, half human …"

"Oh."

"…"

"She's pretty," Rin said and looked at Goten.

"I guess … I mean, Krillin was in love with her the first time he laid eyes on her."

"With who?"

The both of them turned to the voice of Krillin.

"N-Nothing," Goten stuttered.

"We were just admiring you pretty wife," Rin grinned at him, "you're a very lucky man."

"I know," Krillin stuck his nose in the air, "don't get any ideas now, Goten," Krillin shot him a mocking look, much to the chagrin of Goten.

"I wasn't even thinking of it, Krillin. It was Rin who brought it up anyway – Rin?" Goten noticed the empty spot where she had just been standing a few seconds ago. He finally caught sight of her standing in front of Picollo and ran towards them.

"I really like your skin colour. It's a very nice shade of green."

"Humph."

"What planet are you from?"

"Namek."

"Really? It sounds pretty. I've actually been-err … what I meant was-"

"Rin!"

The both of the turned around in time to see Goten jug up to them.

"I see you've met Master Picollo. Master Picollo, this is Rin, my classmate. My mom–"

"You don't have to say more, Goten," Picollo gave him a half smirk, which Goten returned.

"Boys! Food is ready!"

Within a split second, two full-blooded Saiyans and four demi-Saiyans, all locked and loaded and ready for food war, now presently occupied the previously vacant picnic table.

**BAM! **

Correction – two full-blooded Saiyans and two demi-Saiyans now lay on the ground, writing in pain as the women loomed menacingly over them, frying pan at the ready.

"You four should be ashamed of yourselves!" Chichi scolded them.

"Vegeta, Goku; you two are the adults here. You should have made a better impression for the kids," Bulma then turned to Gohan and Goten who had glimmers of tears in their eyes, either from pain or from the humiliation of being man handled by their mother in front of their girl companies, "You two … I expected better. Don't you know that ladies always go first?"

"Yes, Chichi, Bulma."

The four of them said simultaneously, Vegeta just _humphed_ and sulked in the corner.

Thus, the four Saiyan's finally managed to fill their plate of food – after everyone else had taken their share. The majority of the Z Warriors chatted and mingled. Goku was too busy getting intimate with his bowl of ramen to bother with anyone else, as was Vegeta. Gohan and Goten ate, relatively, slower than usual due to the embarrassing display of 'whipped mama's boy syndrome' earlier. Videl and Rin looked particularly amused at the goings-on while Chichi and Bulma basked in the air of smugness.

"So … Rin was it?"

"Yes, Videl Satan."

Videl couldn't help the blush that crept to her cheeks at the mention of her family name, "Where are you from?"

"Southeast Asia … you know … near Thailand, Malaysia … over there. A lot of beaches and … other things," she slurped the last strand of noodle from the bowl and stood up, walking away from Videl.

Videl just watched her leave, curiosity getting the best of her. However, before one of the old habits could emerge, she found her vision blocked by Gohan's butt.

"Gohan!" she elbowed him in the sides, "get your butt out of my face. You're blocking the view and frankly, if I wanted to see the moon, I'd just look up in the sky."

"Sorry," he grinned sheepishly and took the vacant seat next to her, "what are you looking at?"

"Goten's girlfriend. There's something fishy about her."

"Here we go again," Gohan rolled his eyes and stood up, leaving Videl to her wicked ways.

**x-x-x-x**

"So, you're the mate of Kakkarot's second spawn."

Rin twirled around hurriedly at the sudden voice, "Err … Kakkarot's second spawn?"

"The one you call Goten."

"Ah … I thought his father's name was Goku?"

"It's his given name."

"Aha … so … punch?" she held out a glass to him.

"Humphed," he ignored her and walked away, just in time as Goten walked up to her.

"That's Vegeta?"

"The one and only."

"He's scary … like … he reminds me of my father, given without the hair or the scowl … or the gruff voice or the glare. On second thought, he isn't like my father at all."

Goten snickered at her comment.

"Hey, guys; it's picture time!" Bulma waved the camera up in the air.

"Oh no! I will not let you con me into posing with these bunch of weaklings, _again_!" Vegeta said in a nothing-will-change-my-mind-ever tone of voice.

**x-x- Five Minutes Later –x-x**

"Vegeta, would you pick up Bra and stand closer to Goku?"

"No!"

"Vegeta!"

"Humph, fine!" Vegeta grumbled, "Filthy woman and –"

"What was that!"

Vegeta's eyebrow twitched and he reluctantly stepped further into the vicinity of Goku's breathing space, "Say one word, Kakkarot, so help me, I'll kick your ass so hard the next generation of spawns you breed will have my foot print for a birthmark."

Goku motioned zipping his mouth shut, but failed to hide the amused glint in his eye.

The joyous occasion was not meant to last, it seemed, when a sudden spark of Ki caught their attention.

Goku placed Pan gently to the ground and looked seriously at Vegeta, "Did you feel that?""Of course I did, Kakkarot."

"What's going on, guys?" Bulma noticed the stiffing on the men's shoulders and walked over.

"Do you have any idea what that is, Gohan?" Picollo looked at his young protégé.

"Not a clue. We'd better be careful though, it's strong."

"What are they talking about?" Videl looked at Rin who just shrugged her shoulder.

"Heck is I know."

"Goku, what's happening?"

"There was a sudden spark of Ki. It isn't any familiar ones, but it sure is strong," the usual grin on Son Goku's face was replaced by an uncharacteristic frown.

"Quiet Kakkarot, it's getting closer."

Before anyone could blink, an armored figure materialized in front of then.

"Who are you?" Vegeta growled.

"Your worst nightmare, King Vegeta," his tone was low and menacing.

The Z Warrior didn't have time to react when he suddenly phased out of sight and reappeared behind Vegeta, kneeing him in the back.

Goku and the others leaped into action but didn't seem to be any match, seeing as their either found themselves face down in the dirt, sandwiched between the ground and Kame's house or in a lot of pain.

"Goten! Gohan! Vegeta!" The women shouted from the sidelines, unable to be of any help except holding back their youngest children from harm.

"Stay back!" Goten ordered, pulling himself unsteadily to his feet before leaping towards the lean figure for a second round.

"Pathetic!" the figure smirked from behind his visor and sent the attacker back into the ground. Surveying the wreckage he had caused, he laughed, "_This_ is the feared fighters of Earth? I expected much more."

"How dare you," Vegeta growled and charged him, only to find his attack dodged much to easily and being flung back into Kame's house.

"It's no use, Goku, he's to much for us to handle," Piccolo was holding the stump he once called an arm, after trying to hold the warrior down. Yamcha was protecting the women and children.

"Mom, what's going to happen?" Pan and Bra clutched their mothers shirts tightly.

"Don't worry. Dad will protect us," _'I hope,'_ Chichi added thoughtfully.

They decided to attack him all at once, well; Vegeta's opinion didn't matter, but they were all beaten down once again.

"You think you can beat me down that easily? Think again!" he gathered a bright red Ki ball in his palm and was about to shot it towards the injured and bleeding Vegeta when he heard Bulma's voice shout out.

"Vegeta!" Bulma was on her feet, running towards Vegeta when the figure turned his attention on her.

"Get away from there, baka!" Vegeta tried, but failed, to get to his feet and pounded the ground in his frustration and helplessness.

The short fight had left the capable fighters of the team at his mercy and none of them were close enough to Bulma to get there in time as he slowly levitated of the ground an flew towards her at breakneck speed; the last thing she heard was the others calling out her name.

Bulma shut her eyes as tightly as she could; ready to feel the pain coursing through her body. Moments passed, yet no pain came, only silence. Silence that was broken by the ragged breathing of another.

She braved herself to crack open her eyes. The first thing she caught sight of was blue … baby blue; the colour of the evil fighters eyes; eyes so intense, you'd think he could see right through a person's soul. Yet, the eyes also spoke of years of torture, pain and loneliness.

People once said that eyes were the windows to a person's soul, and they were.

Bulma knees became weaker the longer she held the gaze. Sadness and pity filler her stomach, making it harder to resist the urge to throw up. She could not move or speak, only stare. It was not because of fear of her life, or even the life of the people she loved, nor was it sadness that her own heart felt, it would be selfish to say such a thing while holding the attention of such sorrowful youth.

Bulma couldn't hold back the tears as she choked out the first name she could think of. Her gaze was still transfixed by the eyes she had been longing to see again.

"Trunks …"

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**End Chapter 4  
**


	5. Truth be Told

**Disclaimer**: As Usual.

**A Change of Heart.  
****Chapter Five: Truth Be Told.**

* * *

Bulma just stood there, stumped, as she stared into those baby blue eyes, so much like her own and yet so different at the same me.

"Trunks, " she whispered slowly to herself.

The person in front of her immediately shut his open visor and disappeared from sight, to reappear on the other side of the island, away from everyone else.

Bulma slowly sank to her knees with tears streaming out of her eyes. Goku and the others quickly made their way towards Bulma.

"Bulma! Are you ok?" Bulma who was still in a state of shock did not hear Goku's concerned voice.

"Bulma, answer me!" Chichi tried shaking her out of her trance.

"Mommy?" Bra did not understand what was going on and stayed close to Videl.

"Its-no … I-It can't be …" Bulma mumbled softly, a expression of shocked disbelief on her face.

"Bulma, hun, its ok. Everything's fine now," Chichi held Bulma close, assuming that Bulma's condition was due to her near-death-experience.

Vegeta surveyed his distressed wife with a half glance and turned back to the intruder who seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, "You son of a–" Vegeta didn't get to finish his own sentence when, in his rage, he jumped to Super Saiyan-Jin form and rushed the still form.

Bulma noticed Vegeta's actions out of the corner of her eyes; she opened her mouth to call him back but was to late to stop him when his punch made contact with the person's helmet, "_Vegeta, no_!"

His head snapped back as a result of the force in Vegeta's punch and landed on the ground in a heap.

Bulma jumped to her feet, before anyone could do anything and ran towards Vegeta who was about to inflict even more damaged on the fallen figure.

"What the hell are you doing, woman!"

"Stop, Vegeta … please," she pleaded with him.

The figure took it as the time to make his getaway and flew off without a glance back, leaving behind an extremely pissed Vegeta and shards of his broken helmet mingled with his own blood, on the ground.

Vegeta was behind rage as he pulled his arm free of Bulma's grasp and flew off in an attempt to catch the escapee.

The people on the island were silent.

"What in the name of Dende, just happened here?" a mildly injured Krillin looked around at his colleagues for an answer.

"Beats me," Yamcha snorted, "the better question is, what the hell did you do that for, Bulma? Are you stupid?"

Bulma just stayed silent as she looked in the direction he had flown off.

"Well, it isn't a martial artist's way to kick a guy when he's down," Goku spoke up.

"Well, I bet he'd have no problem with kicking out asses when we're down," Krillin glared at him.

"Bulma … what happened back there?" Chichi placed a hand on her shoulder, "why did you stop him?"

Bulma finally tore her gaze away from the sky and looked at Chichi with tear filled eyes; wiping them with the back of her hand, she gave her a small smile, "I don't know …"

"It's been a while since we last saw him pissed, but Vegeta sure is one scary mother-"

"- Not to put a damper on the festivities, people, but I'm sure we're going to be pretty damp soon if we don't get off this island, soon."

"My poor island," Master Roshi sniffled as they walked into the awaiting plane, eager to get away from Kame's island before it sank.

"Well …" Rin started, "that was one heck of an interesting day."

The others just looked at her strangely.

Videl, on the other hand, surveyed her intently, '_something's definitely fishy about this chick.'_

**x-x- Capsule Corp –x-x  
**

"Who was that guy, and how does he know who you are, Vegeta?" Krillin paced the floors in front of an agitated Vegeta.

The grump in question was fuming due to the fact that he had been forced to return to the Capsule Corp empty handed.

"How should I know, you stupid piece of intergalactic scum!" his eyes flashed, causing Krillin to take cover behind his wife.

"Vegeta sure has a way with words … doesn't he?" Rin sweat-dropped as she leaned closer to Goten and whispered in his ear.

"Yeah, must run in the Vegeta blood-line. Trunks had quite a mouth on him as well," Goten mumbled under his breath unconsciously, when he finally realized what he had said, he clasped a hand over his mouth and looked nervously at Rin.

"Who's Trunks?"

"Err …" Goten looked away; "n-no one …" he shrugged his shoulders, "a memory from the past."

Goten didn't seem to want to dwell on the subject longer, so she just let it slide.

"The one thing I want to know," Gohan's voice floated around the room, "how is it that he's so strong? I mean; he didn't even break a sweat when fighting us, all of us and Vegeta in Super Say-" he stopped suddenly and looked at Goten, then at his companion.

"Another thing," Goku seemed oblivious to the almost slip on Gohan's part, "what the heck happened at the end? With Bulma and all?"

"Speaking of Bulma," Picollo looked over to the slumped woman, sulking in the corner, "why did she stop Vegeta from finishing the job?"

"Another thing," Videl stood up and eyed Rin intently, "I think someone in the room isn't quite what she makes herself out to be," she glared pointedly at the Rin.

"Videl," Gohan sighed exasperatedly at his wife's unbreakable habit, "isn't it a bit rude to make accusations without proof to back it up?"

"What more proof do you need? Ask he what she thought about Vegeta going golden a while ago, I bet it's not all as glitter and gold as it is in that part of the universe you live in … not literally."

The room became silent as all they turned their attention to Rin, beckoning her to answer to Videl's accusations.

She looked at each of them for a moment and lifted her shoulders slightly in a half-shrug, "What do you want me to say? …" she looked at Goten, "I'm an alien."

The silence was deafening, before one by one, they all broke into laughter (with the exception of Vegeta and Bulma who was still sulking). Videl looked downright pissed, and not in that happily giddy way.

"What's so funny?" Rin looked at Goten questioningly, "I am an alien."

The Z fighters assembled in the room stopped laughing abruptly and turned to look at her questioningly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I'm actually green, I have three fingers on each hand and five eyes."

The silence in the room was deafening.

"I'm joking," she sweat-dropped, "how much more meaning can 'I'm an alien' bring?"

"Err-"

"And you're an alien too, aren't you? Saiyan-Jin Goten," she nudged him in the ribs, "I knew I could smell a Saiyan-Jin a mile away."

A stray tumbleweed seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

"Aha!" Videl proclaimed out loud suddenly, catching everyone's attention, "I knew there was something fishy about her, and I was right, as I was with you, Son Gohan," she placed her hands on her hips and looked triumphantly at the sweat-dropping Gohan.

"Hai, hai," he waved her off, "you were right, again …"

"So, Rin," Goku smiled at her, "which part of the universe are you from?"

"Well, the real name of my planet is Talarkalarkashikiwakkabwounher, but it's just called Talark for short," she added quickly when she noticed the bewildered look on the people's faces before her.

"Talark?" they heard Vegeta's gruff voice bellow from the far corner of the living room, "I thought that planet was destroyed long ago?"

"Well … not exactly destroyed, per-say," she touched a finger to her chin in contemplation, "more like … on an extended restoration process."

"How did you end up here?"

"It's a long story … which I don't really feel like getting into right now."

Vegeta rolled his eyes at the string of questions that made it's way around the room. Spotting Bulma sitting alone in the corner, he went over to her.

"Woman, what are you doing?" he half expected her to whip out her frying pan for calling her woman, but, surprisingly, she didn't.

"What does it look like I'm doing? Cooking?"

"I would hope not. Then it would be no wonder you're sulking."

"Vegeta!" she glared at him, "go away. Go insult someone else for once."

"Not until you tell me what the hell you were thinking earlier."

She had expected this question from him, "It was stupid. I realize that now. I don't know why I did it, and I'm sorry. Now go away."

Vegeta reached a hand out and grasped her chin firmly but softly and tilted it up to face him, "It has something to do with that fighter, didn't it? There is something about him-"

"I said I'm alright Vegeta. Just leave me alone," she pulled her chin free from his grasp and looked away.

"Fine," he grumbled and stormed off.

Bulma felt somewhat guilty for not telling him, but she didn't feel that the time was right yet, though her heart knew that that fighter was Trunks, she still had not enough proof of it because if it turned out not to be him, it would juts cause everyone unnecessary heart

- -

"Hey Vegeta, what's up with Bulma," Goten asked Vegeta as he walked closer to where they were.

"How should I know that boy? I don't make it a point to try and solve the mysteries of women's weird mind. Why don't you go and ask her yourself?"

"All right. Sheesh. No need to bite my head off, Vegeta."

"Come on, you guys," Gohan sighed, "enough of head biting and _questions_," he directed the comment at Chichi who was busy interrogating Rin one every single detail, "and get serious. We have to figure out how to fight this enemy, or else, we're all in big trouble."

* * *

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**End Chapter Five.**


	6. Facing the Past

**Disclaimer:** As usual.

**A Change of Heart.  
****Chapter 6: Facing the Past.**

**

* * *

**

x-x- Capsule Corps -x-x

"Fuu fuys foww fhat?" Goku sprayed everyone at the table with bits of food.

"Goku! Eat or talk, not both at the same time," a pan wielding Chichi glared menacingly at her husband.

"Ffokey." He nodded enthusiastically and resumed his eating, the others sweat-dropping at his antics.

"Come on guys, we've been at this for hours and still we don't know what to do about that fighter," Gohan spoke, "we can't just wait around here for him to come and attack us again, can we? We need to make the first move," Gohan started dictated, taking to his feet and waving a spoon around at the table occupants.

"Now you're starting to sound like a real Saiyan-jin, boy," Vegeta shot Gohan a approving smirk.

"You're right Gohan! I, for one, don't want to be sitting ducks and wait for him to come and attack us again!" Goten stood firmly behind his brother, his hand weilding a chicken drumstick menacingly, "we need to devise a plan of attack and attack him while he's not looking!"

"I agree with you Goten," Krillin agreed and also took to his feet beside the Son brothers.

"We are going to fight him and this time, we will be the last one standing!" Everyone by now was on their feet in support of Goten.

"Wow Goten, I've never seen you so aggressive before," Rin poked Goten in the ribs, to which he replied with a goofy grin.

"That's right, we've faced other enemies before and still live to tell the tale," Yamcha put his arm around Goten's shoulders.

"That's the spirit guys; what exactly is fear? It's only a four-letter word. We need to show him we're not afraid what we can really do, and the first step to do it is-" Gohan's inspiring speech was momentarily halted by a loud rumbling noise, "-eat lunch!"

The Z Fighters fell down anime style as Goku, Gohan and Goten sat back down hurriedly. Vegeta followed suit, but at an obviously forced pace.

"Son Goku and sons, those three are a unique pair that will never change," Krillin looked at the Saiyan-jin and Demi-Saiyan-jin still chomping down on their food.

"What?" the Saiyan-jin looked confused at the sweat dropping Z fighters.

Vegeta just 'humphed' and continued on eating, while mumbling something about 'stupid, third-class Saiyan-jin and his second-rated spawns of hell.'

"Hey! How can you all be so calm!" Videl was on the verge of tearing her hair out of her scalp, "We all nearly got killed this afternoon and you all are busying yourselves with EATING!" she huffed.

"Calm down Videl"

"Calm down? CALM DOWN! How am I supposed to calm down when there's a maniacal murdered trying to kill us?"

"Don't worry Videl, I'm sure the guys will think of something," Chichi put a comforting hand on Videl's shoulder, "we've always managed before and why not now, right?" she gave Videl a reassuring smile.

"I guess …"

"But seriously guys, we need to stop being too laid back," Piccolo spoke from the corner where he was standing, "I have a feeling that this is not going to be like an enemy we've ever faced before."

"Fee's-" Goku abruptly swallowed his bite when Chichi sent a glare his was, "He's right guys, I have the same feeling. We are going to need all the help we can get to defeat him."

"You're right, dad!" Goten also finished his food, "you can count me in. By the way, when you said everyone, do you mean Mr. Satan as well? If we invited him then we should just keel over now and kiss our asses good bye-ouch!"

"You don't have to insult my father Goten," Videl glared at Goten who sheepishly mouthed a sorry to her, "anyway, I'm in too."

"Humph!" Vegeta scoffed, "I don't need any loud mouth onna getting in my way."

"Stuff it Veggie, I'm going too, and that's the bottom line. Does anybody have to say anything about it?" Bulma looked at all the Z fighters, waiting for them to say a word.

"I'm going too," Chichi brandished her frying pan-of-unspeakable-pain-and-terror.

"Can I come too?" all eyes turned to Rin, "or you'd rather me stay here with him," she motioned to the sulking form of Master Roshi in the far corner of the room.

The people in the room just nodded in agreement.

"You can count me in. And Goten, not to worry, I'll be there to protect your girlfriend," Krillin comment earned him a glare from Goten.

"Well … if all the ladies are going, I wouldn't want to chicken out now," Yamcha walked forward.

"Unfortunately, something's are meant to be, human," Vegeta smirked in his direction "Just remember not to get in my way."

"Why would I want to waste my getting in your way Vegeta? I have my own!" Yamcha, after years of living around Vegeta has basically lost most of his fear for him. And when one sees the proud Prince of all Saiyan-jin's in a pink shirt (not matter how many times he insists that only real men wear pink) you can't help but lose a little respect for him.

Vegeta just snorted and left the room mumbling something about 'disrespectful humans'.

"Now that everything's settled, we need a plan," Piccolo and the others started planning their move.

**x-x- The Enemy's Ship -x-x  
**

The sound of shouting and thing shattering could be heard coming from what looked like the control room of the ship.

"YOU FOOL! YOU HAD THEM WITHIN YOUR GRASP AND WHAT DO YOU DO? YOU RETREAT! IS THIS HOW YOU REPAY ME FOR EVERYTHING I'VE DONE FOR YOU ALL THESE YEARS? ALL I WANTED YOU TO DO IS DESTROY THAT FOOL PRINCE, AND YOU RAN AWAY, MAKING THEM THINK YOU'RE SCARED!" from the tone in which he was using, you could hear that the owner of the voice was livid. His abnormally blood red eyes were flashing angrier than before.

"Forgive me, Master. I realize that my foolishness and I'm ready to be punished for it," the fighter got down on one knee and bowed his head.

"No. Punishment is not necessary, but next time, you WILL DO as you are told, do you understand?" the person started to calm down and sat back in his chair.

"Yes Master. As you wish," the fighter remained in the same position. He seemed not to notice the presence of another in the room, who surveyed the room from their position near the door.

"Rei," his hissing voice rang around the room as the warrior came forward and bowed, "the next mission will be carried out by both of you. This time I want no mistakes. You two will go out there and destroy every last of those pitiful Z warriors, especially those with dirty Saiyan-jin blood flowing through their veins and bring me back their hearts," when they nodded, he continued, "but I want the mate of the Princes' _alive_," he concluded with a wicked smile, "I will show her the power of a real man." He cackled, sending shivers down the spines of the two people before him. "Now leave, remember your order, and kill all but the blue haired woman of Vegetas'."

Both the warriors stood up and started to walk out the door, when he called back to the boy, "You wait here. I saw the fight before and noticed that you were hesitating to kill the onna. She means nothing to you and you to her. So I'm warning you one last time, do not mess up, if not, the consequences will be dreadful. I'm sure you understand that, don't you … Trunks?"

"Yes master."

"Good, now go and carry out your orders."

**x-x- Capsule Corps -x-x  
**

"Maybe we could ambush him from all sides, that way he wouldn't know what hit him," Yamcha offered his opinion.

"I say we attack him head on, all of us. I'm sure he wouldn't stand a chance against us all at full power," Goten spoke up as all the attention turned to him.

"Don't be a fool; a real Saiyan-jin doesn't use cheap tricks. We fight with pride," Vegeta walked back into the room.

"Is that the same pride that got you killed the first time, Vegeta?" Gohan raised an eyebrow at Vegeta.

"Goten's right guys. If we want to win against this enemy, we shouldn't fight alone."

"Kakkarot, you have spent to long on this pitiful planet that you have lost all your Saiyan-jin pride."

"You are the one who need's a lesson Veggie, a lesson in teamwork. Have you not noticed that we are on earth not on Vegeta-sei? You're not king here."

"Don't call me that, woman!"

"Knock it off, both of you!" Videl took a stand, "there is a time to argue and there is a time to work together. NOW is not the time to start a dispute among some stupid plan because, newsflash, what moron goes into a battle with a plan to ambush and fight, fight, fight?" she was starting to become sick and tired at their nonchalant attitude.

"Shame on you boys; look at you, acting like children over some silly idea. You don't know how many companions that fighter has, for all you know there could be an army of them."

"They're right," Goku agreed, as did the others. Vegeta actually snorted, but that as close as they'll ever get to an agreement from him.

Suddenly a flicker of two strong Ki's caught their attention.

"It's him and this time he brought a friend," Gohan realized that he was getting really good at stating the obvious.

"It's too late to back down now guys," Piccolo started out the door, his cape billowing behind him, "this is it, the time to find out who's stronger."

As the Z fighters prepared to blast off, there were a sudden explosions near Satan City and the two Ki's skyrocketed.

They all were stunned at the real power of both warriors combined. But that didn't stop them from fighting as they all blasted towards Satan City with Vegeta, Goku and Goten carried their respective girls, while Gohan flew beside Videl.

**  
x-x- Satan City -x-x  
**

The two fighters were creating total mayhem, shooting Ki blasts everywhere as a plan to attract the Z warriors. The once proud city was now in ruins, it looked like an atom bomb was dropped there, or perhaps like there was a fight between two equally pissed off Saiyan-jins.

The sight that greeted the Z was not a pleasant one; dead and mangled bodies littered the streets. The entire town was litterally painted red, with blood. All the guys looked on in horror as the girls covered their eyes at the death zone that was once Satan City. Their attention was quickly turned as the two strong ki's approached them.

"You!" Vegeta glared at the first warrior, his eyes shot to his side when another person landed next to him.

"Yes, we meet again Vegeta," Vegeta's name slithered off his tongue, "this time we will finish the job," he muttered before crouching down into a stance, as did his companion.

Expecting this reaction, all the Z fighters got into their own. Their muscles twitched as the anticipation of the first attack grew.

Vegeta's eyes never left the form of the two black-clad fighters and without any warning, he blasted off at top speed towards the them. The others, momentarily startled, also followed suit soon.

As Vegeta got close to them, they suddenly phased out of sight and reappeared a few hundred feet in the air above the Z fighters. Bright energy accumulated in their palms before they were shot down towards the town. One by one, hundred of shots rained down on them. Goku and the others seemed to be having a hard time blocking them, but as quickly as they came, all the blasts dissapeared, as did the two.

Vegeta narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to say something, but was abruptly cut off when the person he had been looking for suddenly materialized in front of him, as did his companion before the rest of the Z fighters.

Bulma looked on in horror as her husband fought her long lost son. She felt like shouting for them to stop, but she was scared. She did not know why, but she feared that if she said it out loud he would go away again and she would never see him again. She had gone through that once already, and never again.

Vegeta could not believe it; he and the others were having a harder time than they thought fighting with the two. Getting extremely pissed off, Vegeta suddenly broke apart from the others and jumped Super Saiyan. Soon, the remaining Saiyan-jins also transformed and Piccolo charged his power to the maximum.

It was became obvious quickly that the two fighters were having a harder time breaking even with them when they were charged up, as Vegeta managed to land a couple of hits.

"Now you'll see the power of the Prince of all Saiyans!" Vegeta charged up his strongest Gallic Gun and released it towards the fighter as the Goten and Picollo quickly got out of the way. The speed of the blast left a tail like glow as it shot forward.

The other fight seemed to have been stopped momentarilly as they turned their attention to the unmoving warrior. The ki blast was within a few meters away from him but he didn't seem to have any intention to budge. All of a suddenly, his ki level shot up and he swatted away Vegeta's Gallic Gun like a fly.

Everyone's mouth dropped open.

"What? It's impossible!"

"Unbelievable!" Goten's eyes widened.

"A flashlight could cause more harm than that," he laughed at the shocked looks on their faces, "It's my turn now!" got into a stance and attacked Vegeta, punching him what looked like hundreds of times then raised his fists above his head before knocked Vegeta down to the ground.

In the midst of broken rocks and dust Vegeta lay, bloodied and bruised. His right arm looked as if it had been broken in a few places.

"VEGETA!" Bulma ran to his side followed closely by the other girls.

"Dad, you need to go to Karin's tower and get some senzu beans," Gohan told Goku as he instant transmissioned out, leaving Gohan, Krillin and Yamcha to fight off the warrior.

"Hang in there, Vegeta!" Bulma was in tears at the thought of losing her husband. She knew that she was being overly dramatic, since he _was _Vegeta, when Goku suddenly appeared out of nowhere, in his hand was a bag of senzu beans.

"Thank Kami that Karin still had a small batch left," Goku handed a bean to Bulma who fed it to Vegeta. After swallowing the bean, all the cuts and bruises started to disappear off of his body and he pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Vegeta, are you alright?" Bulma helped him to his feet.

"He's going to pay," ignoring Bulma, Vegeta levitated into the air and powered up to Super Saiyan once again. Watching Vegeta blast off, Bulma could do nothing but wonder why she didn't tell them, she should, she had to ... she couldn't. Bulma was pulled out of her stupor when she heard the aginising sounds of bones being crushed, followed quickly by the screams of Chichi.

Looking up into the air, Bulma saw that the new fighter was holding Goten -who had dropped out of Super Saiyan mode- chokingly firm by the neck. Both his arms seemed to be broken and he was left dangling in mid air by the one hand that squeezed at his throat.

"GOTEN!" seeing her beloved son in such condition was too much for Chichi who's eyes rolled back in her head before she collapsed backwards into the awaiting arms of Rin.

"Goten! I'm coming!" Gohan powered up to Super Saiyan two and sped of towards Goten, leaving his father and the others to deal with the first fighter.

As Gohan got closer, he threw a punch and a roundhouse kick at the the offending fighter, but missed. Somehow, Gohan sensed that under that helmet that the person was smirking at him. All of a sudden, the arm holding Goten was pulled back before the Demi-Saiyan-jin was thrown back roughly at Gohan.

"Mister Picollo!"

"I know!" Picollo took Goten in his arms and sped of towards Bulma who had the senzu beans, "quickly!" he urged to Bulma who quickly got out a senzu bean out and fed it to Goten. After a while he began to stir and the wounds he had received began vanishing.

The fight continued on despite everything. Goten rejoined the battle after both Picollo and Goku had been shot down, leaving Yamcha and Krillin to face the new fighter, who didn't even spare them a second glance before flying over to assist their comrade. Both of them took the opportinuty to rush down and look for the buried bodies of Goku and Picollo.

Now Goten, Gohan and Vegeta were the only ones left to face both over-powering forces.

Chichi, unfortunately, chose that moment to regain consciousness, but at the sight of her husbands body covered in blood, she promptly passed out again.

"Guys, we can't keep this up forever," Gohan panted, "if someone here has a plan, now is a good time."

"Gohan's right guys! We can never win if we fight them both at the same time, we need to beat them one by one."

"And HOW do you propose we do that, brat?" Vegeta was getting ticked off by the fact that there were more people out there that were stronger than him

"How about this; first we need to get rid of that one" Goten pointed to the first warrior that they had come face to face with on Master Roshi's island, "he seems to be in charge. Dad, you and Gohan will fight him in Super Saiyan-jin two mode. Maybe he can hold his own against one, but two will be a lot harder. Mister Picollo, Vegeta and I will distract the other one, remember, you need to be at full power. How many senzu beans are left?"

"Let's see, I took nine. Vegeta, Goten, Picollo and myself already took one each, so that leaves?" Goku started counting his fingers.

"Five, dad," Goten sweat-dropped.

"Yeah, I guess so!" Goku grinned sheepishly, "now we all need to have a senzu bean each and-" Goku didn't finish that sentence when crater where the two fighter had landed, exploded and they shot out at top speed.

"Dad, you have to get the senzu beans!" Goten shouted to Goku as he did the instant transmission to where the girls were, got the beans and went back to the others. They all took one bean each and could feel the power returning to them,

"Everyone knows the plan right?"

They all nodded.

"Okay. Let's go!"

The Saiyan-jins and Namek-jin attacked following Goten's plan and soon began separating the two fighters. Goten's plan seemed to be working as, after a while, Goku and Gohan got the upper hand.

Goten and the others, on the other hand, were not so lucky as they were barely managing to control the fighter by the skin of their teeth.

Goku and Gohan shot two _Kame Hame Ha _blasts at the fighter who didn't have time to block and it caught him right in the chest, flinging him backwards in to a mountain. Not noticing the sad look Bulma threw at the demolished mountain, Goku and Gohan shared a triumphant smile and quickly flew off to where the other were ungraciously getting their asses handed to them. The quickly got the upper hand.

Vegeta continued to berate them on how shameful the victory was since it's five people against one, but his words fell on deaf ears, if anything, he was even told to keep quiet by Gohan. The statement to which was answered by a - though he denies it but would still later be known as the pout-of-pain-and-terror. A pouting Vegeta was indeed a scary sight.

After a seemingly endless shower of punches and kicks, Picollo managed to distract the fighter, allowing Goku, Gohan and Goten to power up their _Kame Hame Ha _and Vegeta his _Gallic Gun_. Quickly moving out of the way, Picollo could feel the heat of the ki blasts as their zoomed past him, slamming into the fighter head on before exploding.

They vaguely heard the girls below cheering, along with Chichi who had regained consciousness, as their eyes remained trained on the bright sparks that rained down to the ground.

"We did it," Goten turned around, a look of disbelief on his face, "we actually did it!"

Gohan and Goku cheered along with Goten, Picollo also had a satisfied look on his face. Vegeta, on the other hand kept his eyes on the destroyed mountain where the first fighter had ended up; there was a tingling feeling in the back of his mind which he could not brush off.

"Are you sure?"

They all twirled around quickly when they heard the unexpected voice behind them and came face to face with the second fighter; floating, arms crossed in the air. The Z fighters, momentarilly stunned, could only stare helplessly, mouths agape at the fighters' battered form.

"Well, seems that we lost ... such a shame, really. Hope to do this again sometime soon,

it was good exercise."

Before any of them could react to the statement, the person -they suspected him to be a woman because of the voice (a fact that would later leave a very bad after taste in Vegeta's mouth)- shot off in the opposite direction.

"Well ..." Gohan started, "all here in favour of _not _going after him ... or her ... say _aye_."

A round of _'ayes' _followed suit. Everyone was tired and hurting, and had no intention of chasing after a retreating enemy.That could already have been counted as a victory, except in Vegeta's mind, so he sulked.

"At least we go one," Goten said finally as they landed and greeted the happy congratulations given by the girls.

The was a flicker of Ki, before the empty spot in front of them seemed to explode in a cloud of dust and smoke.

"But I could be mistaken."

The first fighter they had encountered now stood, or rather, sagged before them. His armour was now shattered in various places. Blood rained to the ground from the many wounds that had been inflicted on his body.

The warrior was breathing hard and seriously injured but still got into a fighting stance. This time, however, he attacked first, but was quickly overpowered by all the Z fighters, but it did not dampen whatever spirit that was left in him.

"You know guys, enemy or not, we'd still have to admire his spirit, I mean, he doesn't give up very easily does he?" Goku said suddenly, "he kinda reminds me of you, Vegeta."

"Hmph!" Vegeta snorted at Goku's comment, "spirited or not, he's still going down." Vegeta began attacking the warrior head on at full force.

The warrior was having a very hard time fending them off, his armor had become completely destroyed; the wounds that had been inflicted seemed to be sapping his strength. When Goku punched him in the stomach, he doubled over, blood dripped down the side of his mouth onto the ground in little droplets. Vegeta took the advantage of him being off guard and kicked him backwards, where he went floying, landing close to where the girls were standing, surveying the fight.

"Now is YOUR time to meet your doom," Vegeta was barely able to supress the air of smugness that surrounded him. He didn't notice Bulma standing apart, face set to an expression of horror while tears gathered in his eyes.

"How can he still be able to stand?" Krillin gaped as his eyes stayed glued to the fighter that was slowly, and painfully taking to his feet, "I have to say, its kind off sad to kill him now, but, GET ON WITH IT VEGETA!"

Vegeta was oblivious to the gazes, murmurs around him; mind mind set on one thing, destroying the fighter before he destroyed them. He powered up and shot off towards the fallen fighter, his fist managing to get within a few inches from the his face when a familiar voice broke his reverie.

"VEGETA! STOP!"

Momentarily schoked by Bulma's sudden interference, Vegeta stalled for half a second, allowing the fighter to dodge at the few close seconds before the hit made contact. The punch itself only managed to scrape the surface of his helmet, but it was the force behind it that caused it to shatter.

His eyes widened when the realization of what this would do finally reached his sane mind. His hand automatically shot to cover his face and the pieced of the broken visor slipped off and fell onto the ground, bit by bit, like it was in slow motion. A sudden gush of wind ruffled his jet black hair as the last piece of his that sheilded himself from prying eyes left his head. There he sat, crouched on one knee, a broken a bleeding arm hung limply by his side while the other desperately to keep his identity a secret, though, he knew the attempt was futile.

"What the hell are you thinking, woman!" Vegeta fumed, spinning around to shoot a glare at Bulma, but whatever he intended to add died on his lips at the sight of her tear striken face.

"That is ... he is ..." Bulma mumbled incoherently as she mad small steps towards the fighter, "he is ..."

"Bulma, where are you going?"

She paid no attention to the enquiring gazes, insted, focused it all on the young man before her.

Noticing the presence beside him, he cocked his head.

"... T.K? ..." Goten raised an eyebrow as his eyes fell on the familiar face.

The rest turned their gazes to him instead, "Who?"

"He's a new guy from school," Goten answered only half-heartedly, eyes never leaving the sullen face of the boy in front of him. Narrowing his eyes slightly when he saw Bulma kneeling down in front of him, he hands reaching out to cup his face.

"What the hell is the woman doing!" Vegeta demanded, but no one answered him.

After was seemed to be forever, his lips parted, and the word that left her mouth was nothing that they would expect in a million years.

"Trunks ..." she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

His face showed no emotion, his eyes were blank and he made no move to dislodge her from his body.

Every jaw present dropped open at the discovery.

"Trunks ..." Goten repeated quietly, his mind was playing that word over and over. Suddenly, as if a dam had been opened, a flood of memories he had buried deep within his mind came rushing out. His eyes turned to the people that surrounded him, neither one willing to hold his gaze for long, "You told me he was dead ..." he said quietly, as if he didn't trust his own voice not to betray him ... as his friends had obviously done.

"Trunks" Vegeta whispered just as slowly, still unable to believe his ears.

No one there know what to do, or say. This was Trunks. The person they had fought on various occasions recently. The boy they had believed to have died a decade ago. What were that supposed to say?

It seemed that the answer to the question came soon enough when they heard a small shout of surprise by Bulma when he was pushed away, landing on her backside hard. Trunks shot to his feet and without a glance back, shot off into the sky. It wasn't long till he was just a small speck in the wide sky.

"Trunks ..." Bulma said weakly as he looked at his disappearing body.

That's what they were supposed to do; not let him go again. But neither one could bring themselves to chase after him, what with two problems they needed to take care off.

"Bulma ..." Chichi called her name softly, "how did you know?"

Bulma seemed to have calmed down a little and was contemplating her answer.

"Bulma."

"It was on the island, when he first came."

"But why didn't you tell us? This all could have been avoided," Gohan enquired.

"I wanted to, but I couldn't. What if I was wrong? What if any of you died because of my mistake? I could never live with myself."

"Bulma-"

"Woman," Vegeta cut off whatever Chichi had to say, "this is not your secret to keep," Vegeta was trying hard to come up with a suitable word to use, as to not make it seem like he had gone soft, but that attempt untimely failed, causing him to settle with a simple, "he's my son too."

This seemed to case another bout of tears from Bulma, "I'm sorry ... I should have said something but ... I'm sorry," she stood up and leaned gently into Vegeta's chest, sobbing quietly against him. The arrogant prince didn't seem to make an attempt to stop her.

Only seconds later did everyone realize that Goten was standing apart from them, his fists clenched tightly at his sides and his eyes, which held a look of anger, glaring holes into their souls.

"You lied to me ..." he muttered, "you said that he died ... how could you? You have no right to say that, he's my friend! How could you lie to me!" he shouted. His feet taking him a step backwards when Gohan walked over to offer his sympathies.

"Goten, listen, we did it for your own good. We had tried everything, but even Shenlong couldn't find him and we didn't want you to get your hopes to high, we're sorry," Gohan looked regretful, "but at least now we know he's alive and we can get him back."

Anything Goten had wanted to say refused to leave his lips and he just stood stiffly, letting his big brother's arms to circle around him. Tears drops made a wet stain in Gohan's already torn and tattered shirt, he just stood there, eyes not showing any emotion as he allowed his little brother to sob quietly against his chest.

**x-x- The Enemy's Ship -x-x**

"I knew those kids were useless," Tenkou glowered, "Now it's time to take more serious measures. Computer, contact Ballarck, he's on Kabage-sei. Tell him and his crew to get here because I have a new mission for him," he smirked, "be careful Z fighter, you all have just begun to fight."

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**End Chapter Six.**

Yes, I did name the planet after a cabbage :D I dislike cabbages, therefore it will be an evil planet.

Oh, and you may wonder why none of them recognized Trunks, at least from his Ki, well, thats because I'm the authoress and I said so ...that, and it would be a damned short story if they had discovered, ne :D Lets just eat a lolly and leave it at that, nyaa.

Edit: Century changed to decade...thanks to TheGuy for pointing it out xD;


	7. Dark Truths

**Disclaimer**: As usual.

Note: Deleted and completely rewrote the last part. Previous evil-rendition of my perfect-scmerfect OOC is now a distant memory. She is no longer an evil suddenly-appeared-out-of-nowhere-with-aweshum-powerzzzzzz Saiya-jin sue! She is not just an alien prone to acts of shoujo-ai, whose cat hates her guts more than us fangirls! Huzzah!

And for my other super-perfect-powerful-beyond-comprehension-evil-sue-with-a-bad-past...well, I have some character change in mind that I think will work out well in this story :D

**A Change of Heart.  
****Chapter Seven: Dark Truths.**

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* * *

**

"Come on guys, lets not start again with the arguments," Gohan was trying to ease up the tense atmosphere resulting from disagreements from all parties.

"Yeah, what's important now is we need to get Trunks back."

While in the back of the group, Goten sat, alone, it looked like he was in deep thought.

"If that is Trunks, that means that the creature from last time is behind this all."

"If it is, then I want to get my hands on that worthless piece of-" Vegeta didn't finish his sentence when he felt two familiar Ki's heading their way.

"Pan, Bra, what are you two doing here?" Bulma and Chichi both had their hands on their hips.

"I thought we told you two to stay at the CC with Master Roshi!" Bulma said sternly.

"We're sorry," Pan started, looking sheepish, "but we were bored and Master Roshi didn't help, he was just watching girls doing really funny things on TV."

"Doing what kind of funny things?"

"I don't know, there were a lot of girls. They were taking each others clothes off and started licking ... funny places," Bra told them, her face was scrunched up, like she was trying hard to imagine a disgusting scene. The other's faces transformed quickly from confused, to shock and to rage, "Right Pan? After that, Master Roshi's face turned a really funny color and then there was blood coming out of his nose, he looked like a fountain. That was really funny and-" Bra stopped after seeing the looks on their faces.

"THAT OLD PERVERT IS GOING TO DIE!" Goku and Gohan had to physically restrain Vegeta from blasting off to the Capsule Corp right that instant, "LET GO OFF ME KAKKAROT AND YOU, SPAWN, I'M GOING TO BLAST HIM TO THE SEVENTH DEPTHS OF HELL!"

"Later Vegeta, right now we have more important matters to attend to," Goku and Gohan let go off Vegeta as he began to calm down and powered down from Super Saiyan.

"They're right," they all turned to Chichi, who was speaking in a calm tone, so calm that it was almost terrifying, "BUT BY THE TIME I'M THROUGH WITH HIM, THERE ISN'T GOING TO BE ENOUGH LEFT OF HIM TO FEED AN ANOREXIC MOSQUITO!" Chichi had raging flames in her eyes and was waving around her frying pan-of-unspeakable-pain-and-terror that had just magically appeared. Everybody just backed away slowly, even Vegeta, who had enough a sense not to mess with an enraged Chichi, especially one wielding a frying pan.

"O-kay, now everyone, settle down," Krillin held both his hands up, "all the extra energy should be directed towards the enemy, not among ourselves."

"Goten, what are you thinking about?" Picollo spoke suddenly, causing all attention to focus on Goten, who had calmed down a lot after his breakdown.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing," Goten lied, but they were not convinced.

"Come on Goten, tell us."

"You know what secrets do, don't you?" Vegeta growled, and by the shine of realization in the boys' eyes, he knew Goten got the meaning behind it.

"Well... it's just that... it means TK is Trunks, and he was right in front of me all this time but I didn't notice. He's supposed to be my best friend and I couldn't even recognize him," Gotens' expression turned sullen.

"It's not your fault Goten. We are the ones who told you he died, and besides, he has black hair now, the Trunks you knew had lavender hair, didn't he?" Bulma smiled. Goten nodded his head slowly.

"I guess..."

Goten took a deep breath and turned to Rin, who hadn't spoken a word since the battle, "Are you okay?" he nudged her slowly with an elbow.

"Huh, oh, yeah..." she smiled sheepishly, "Just drifted off for a second there."

"What were you thinking of?"

"Nothing that I think is exceptionally important, really."

"Whatever issues of non-importance as it may seem to you, might serve of some importance right now, so spit it out, girl," Vegeta growled.

"Err... well... I remember that when TK first came to class, he was with another person. So ... I'd dare to go out on a foot here and assume that she was the other person."

Goten's expression changed to one of realization, "You're right! I'd completely forgotten about that ... Rei was it? Now that I think about it, she was a bit weird. I think I saw her putting the moves on Mr. Bento during recess that afternoon too."

Throughout Goten and Rins' thoughtful reminiscence, they didn't notice the peculiar looks the rest of the Z Fighters were throwing them. Only when Gohan gave a distinct cough, did they realize that they weren't alone.

"Glad you decided to come back down to earth and join us, kids," he gave them a half-moon eyed glare.

"Sorry," both grinned sheepishly.

"Anyway," Goten added, "well ... that's about it for our theory. Rei is probably the fighter with Trunks; she looks pretty scary too actually, so I'm not surprised that we got our asses kicked. I'd even go as far as to say that she reminds me of Vegeta-"

"-who in no way resembles my father, by the way, therefore she and I are not related," Rin ended, earning a light chuckle from Goten. The others just looked on like they had gone mad, "But we did have one night in bed a while ago. It was completely unforgettable," she cooed and seemed to be glowing at the memory.

Goten's laughter turned into a shocked cough soon after the last word, and he just stared at he like she had grown another head.

"What was that?"

Someone in the crowd asked. None of them seemed to have noticed that Vegeta was strangely quiet, sulking in the back while grumbling about more people that were stronger than him, and began imagining multiple scenarios in which Kakkarot would die in the slowest, most painful way imaginable.

"We shared a night together? What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, really ... just ... well, this sure puts an interesting twist on things," Gohan muttered.

"I thought you were Goten's girlfriend?"

"How on earth did you get acquainted with that psycho?"

"My grandchildren!"

"I'd pay a lot of money to get in on some of that action."

"Yamcha! Stop being a chauvinistic pervert around the children, or I'll sic Vegeta on you."

Goten and Rin sweat dropped at the reactions received. Ignoring his peculiar family, Goten turned to her and locked on his intense, I-want-an-answer gaze on her, "So ... you and her? You know her? How? When? Where? You're into girls? No wonder you were checking out Juu back on Master Roshi's island."

"Who was checking out my Juu?!"

"People, people, people, one at a time!" Bulma raised up her arms to calm the rabid crowd, they all obliged and quieted down as the last of the questions (does that mean you're one of them too?) rang out, "Give the poor girl some time to answer."

Having said that, Bulma immediately turned to her, as did all the eyes present.

"Well ... I'm not really sure how to start ..."

"How about the beginning?" Goten said.

"Okay then ... so, well ... I met her back home sometime ago. We talked, had dinner and ended up falling asleep on the same bed. It's not that all an interesting story when I look back on it ..."

No one seemed to know what right response to give to her comment.

"How exactly did you end up here, if I'd be so bold as to ask."

"Funny story actually; you see, my father was somewhat of an inventor, and ... well, to make a long story short, big invention went kaboom, and I ended up here. My cat doesn't like me very much either."

No one knew what right response to give that comment either, so they opted to just stare at her. The thoughts of Trunks and whatever new enemy might appear pushed out of their thought for the moment.

That was until the moment was abruptly cut short by Videls' enraged growl.

"What the hell are you people doing? Gaping at her like she'd grown another head," at that comment, Videl had to do a double take to make sure that she didn't really have another head, "anyway, we've just discovered who the enemy is... and what gender... so we had to come up with a plan to keep us from getting our asses kicked from here to the moon next time!"

Bulma, who was absentmindedly twirling the silver, heart-shaped pendant Vegeta had (not out of his own free will) given her for Christmas, nodded, "Videl's right. We have to get Trunks back, and I will stop at nothing to make sure that I do!"

Everyone cheered, and seemed to be of one heart and mind again, until Goku said something stupid and was almost kicked into tomorrow by Vegeta, and they had to start all over again. Videl was not one happy camper then.

**x-x- The Enemy's Ship -x-x**

"Master, the warrior Ballarck has just entered the Earths' system and is within communicating range," the electronic sound of a computer rang around the big control room of the ship.

"Very good, put him on screen."

Within seconds, a very scary and scarred face appeared on the screen, "You summoned me, Tenkou-sama?"

"Yes, I have a very important mission for you," he smirked.

"What happened to the kiddies?" Ballarck looked slightly curious as to the fate of his two subordinates.

"Those two? They were useless, too weak to fight, but, I no longer need them for I have you. I think you might find your next opponents particularly interesting," Tenkou smirked.

"Forgive me for my nosiness, but might I inquire whom I will face?" Ballarck's face broke into a crooked grin.

"Saiyan-jins, but not just any common Saiyan-jin, I'd even go as for as to call him the peskiest of them all. Even Freeza found him to be trouble."

"Saiyans, huh?" his had a surprised look on his face, "I thought they were all extinct?"

"Not all of them, well ... not yet. They will when you get through with them, I can count on you, can't I?"

"Of course you can. I always liked a little Saiyan-jin meat on the side," he licked his lips hungrily.

"Good, I knew you were the right man for the job. When you land on this pathetic mud-ball called Earth, you know where to find me."

"As you wish, Tenkou-sama," he bowed slightly and the screen went blank.

"That pathetic prince will, at last, meet his doom and I will finally get my revenge," he cackled, seemingly not noticing the stirring shadow in one of the corners, or so it seemed.

"You dare return here after failing to carry out your orders?" Tenkou hissed out suddenly, without turning to face the person.

"I didn't fail," he deep, feminine voice muttered, "you said to send the boy to his family, and I did."

"So, where is he now?"

"I'm not his babysitter."

"I always found it amusing that you have such gall to talk back to me."

"I'm only saying what is the truth."

Tenkou suddenly disappeared from here eyes and seemed to appeared in a flash of white before her seconds later before slamming her hard into the wall behind, "Have I not taught you anything about telling the truth? We're the bad guys, we don't tell the truth."

"Forgive me, then, I should have said _'obvious'_."

Tenkou seemed amused at the answer. A sly smirk spread across his face and he lowered his lips down to meet his subordinates'. The kiss lasted for a few seconds until Tenkou pulled back, leaving the somewhat scandalized girl before him and walked away.

"You may leave now."

He hadn't the need to say it twice, when the sound of the door sliding open and closed reached his ears soon after.

"Children grow up so fast these days."

**x-x- Satan City -x-x**

The Z fighters were on alert as they felt several strong Ki's enter the atmosphere before several bright specks over the horizon caught their eye. Time seemed to slow down as they watched the spots descend onto the ground, before there was an explosion and an earth splitting quake.

"Damnit Dende, not now!" Krillin cursed.

Somewhere above the earth, Dende sneezed.

"See, I told you guys, but did you believe me? NOOO! Why? Because I'm just some human from Earth and not some great Saiyan warrior," Videl stated bitterly.

"Come on Videl-"

"Stuff it woman, we have more important things to worry about," Vegeta shot off towards the place where the pods landed.

The watched silently as Vegeta's form began receding into the horizon before coming to the conclusion that it would be best if they followed suit.

"Okay; long run goal: get Trunks back. Medium run goal: fight the enemy. Short run goal: don't die," Krillin mentally reminded himself before blasting off behind the others.

**x-x- The Crash Site-x-x**

"So... this is Earth, eh? What a pathetic sight to see," Ballarck surveyed his surroundings with a look of disgust clear on his horribly scarred face. "No wonder Tenkou-sama wants it destroyed." He turned his attention to the in coming figures and smirked, "Look here boys, we have company"

And in a spectacle of growls, upturned gravel and dust, the Z Fighters made their entrance.

"And to what do we owe the honor of you presence" Ballarck greeted.

"I am the Prince of all Saiyan-jin, and I will go wherever I please," Vegeta glared at the enemy.

"Oh! Look boys, it's the Prince of all Saiyan-jin," Ballarck and his crew laughed before getting into a mock bow, "forgive us Your Majesty, we had no idea."

"Why you," Vegeta was on the verge of going Super Saiyan-jin but was quickly stopped by Goku.

"Not yet, Vegeta," Goku whispered so that only Vegeta heard him.

"Who are you? And why have you come here?" Gohan asked.

"If you should know, boy, I am Ballarck, and this is my crew of planet conqueror and plunderers. Our job is go from planet to planet... well, basically plundering and conquering," the crew laughed at his statement. "Why? Have you no sense of humor?" he added, regarding the serious look on the Z Fighters faces.

"Considering your idea of humour to be pretty whacked, I suppose that no, we don't," Gohan said boldly, taking a firm stand even though the ghastly stench the crew gave off was enough to curl his nose hair. He sucked in his gut and puffed out his chest in a manner that seemed pretty imposing when in truth, he was holding in his breath.

"Looks like we have a smart-ass on our hands here, and we all know how annoying those kinds can be, don't we? Anyone care to do the honour?" Ballarck turned back to his crew, inquiring mockingly as he flashed a smirk in Gohans' direction.

Gohan growled, insulted to be taken so lightly. So what that he may have looked like a nerd with his thick, black-frames specs that he just noticed he was still wearing. It had been a hot topic for Vegeta who seemed to be the one insulted the most that one of his races was sporting human eyewear.

"So do we fight _now _or wait for my toenail to grow out?" pausing, Ballarck looked down at his aforementioned toenails. "Well, would you look at that! It's already grown out--"

"--The appropriate word out have to be 'dreadfully out grown'--" interrupted Gohan but no one paid him any attention.

"I guess we start fight...now!"

And all hell broke loose. The Saiya-jins powered up, the Namek-jin powered up and lunged forth into a head on fight with the rabid enemy. Boulders were unearthed, sand and dust scattered in the air.

Punched with thrown, some connected, some didn't.

The girls watched in a mix of awe and fear from the sidelines. Bulma and Chichi stood close to each other with Videl and Rin stood side by side watching the blood bath playing out right in front of their eyes. At first, the battle seemed to be on pretty even grounds, an even amount of hit landed and an equal amount of fighters on both sides landed in a heap in craters down on the ground.

"Do you think your petty little light show will work now" Vegeta's smirking words broke through the racket as he deflected an oncoming blast with one hand, completely unaware that the direction of the Ki ball had now been change towards the direction of Bulma and Chichi.

Chichi, eyes staring fixated to where her husband and sons were holding their own against their opponents, didn't noticed the oncoming threat, but Bulma did. And in an act that never fully registered in her mind, he shoved her friend as hard as she could out of the way, but did not have enough time for herself to get away. Bulmas' eyes widened and she watched the blinding light become bigger and bigger the closer it came. The light reflecting in her shiny orbs like the proverbial light one would see at the end of the tunnel when it was their time coming.

Bulma knew that there was no hope, be she had no regrets. Closing her eyes in a sign of peaceful acceptance, a small smile curled at the side of her lips and a tear that rolled down her cheek before dripping down her chin and splattering onto the dusty ground before it was lost in the mass of dirt.

"BULMA!"

Chichi's shout caught everyone's attention and they turned around just in time to see the consuming light swallow up Bulma's shadow, continue on it path uninterrupted and ending in a loud explosion as it hit the side of one of the rock mountains.

Vegeta was barely able to blink much less even think that he would have ever made it in time. There he stayed, hovering; wide, disbelieving eyes staring at the spot where Bulma had just been, only to spot the remaining shine of a now dirtied and melted pendent that lay damaged half buried beneath the debris.

"Bulma..."

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**End Chapter 7**

Wow, shocking edit-update! The only thing left to do now is find where I'd put the other chapters of this story I'd saved before I deleted it...


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